Nikolai, a chemical engineer, was arrested in connection with a criminal case opened for online comments following the deaths of KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk and IT specialist Andrei Zeltser. He was found guilty of "discrediting the Republic of Belarus" for a post in the "Strong News" group on the social network VKontakte, which, according to the prosecution, discredited the country.
Nikolai was released in November 2022 in the courtroom, having already served his entire sentence.
