Ilya joined the Belarusian Wikipedia 17 years ago, in May 2008, and during that time, he created over 6,700 articles and refined tens of thousands more. But his most significant contribution was to visual content: thanks to him, tens of thousands of historical images and documents, including very rare ones, appeared in the free encyclopedia. In 2019, he became an administrator and bureaucrat of Wikipedia on Tarashkevytsia. Only he has ever held such a high status.
It was Kazimir Lyakhnovich who, virtually single-handedly, wrote articles about the national symbols of Belarus, the symbols of the Lukashenko regime, the referendums, and the separate presidential elections during this period. These texts are notable for their harsh language regarding the current government. This, incidentally, violated Wikipedia's rules.
For many years, Kazimier Lachnovič remained anonymous, and even his fellow Wikipedians weren't sure who was behind the nickname. But that didn't save him from criminal prosecution.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
