Ivan most recently worked at Belenergo, installing and configuring fiber-optic networks and communications.
Ivan is a very active Telegram commentator. From 2019 to 2025, he left over 50,000 messages in open chats. Most of them weren't political—he discussed technology, offering professional advice on editing and network tools. However, he also wrote about politics. Kochanov supported the movement for free elections and condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, he criticized Europe and NATO, spoke out against the persecution of Belarusians abroad and repression, as well as against repression for the Russian language in Ukraine, as this "incites aggression."
He was convicted for comments in a chat room deemed extremist and for participating in protests in 2020. Two weeks after being transferred to the penal colony, Ivan was charged with a second criminal case related to the "Belarusian Gayun" chat room and was again transferred to a pretrial detention facility.
