Михаил — доцент, кандидат технических наук, автор монографий и разработок, первым в Беларуси зарегистрировал автомобиль на альтернативном топливе. Руководил лабораторией в Витебском технологическом университете, занимавшейся водородными технологиями.
В 2006 году интерес к его работе проявил КГБ. После отказа сотрудничать с органами Михаила обвинили в «хищении через злоупотребление служебными полномочиями» и в 2007 году приговорили к 5 годам колонии.
После освобождения он занялся правозащитной деятельностью: вошёл в организацию «Платформа», позже стал сооснователем «Платформы Инновейшн». Повторно был задержан в августе 2014 года, через неделю после оглашения приговора в отношении директора ЧКПУ «Платформа Инновейшн» Андрея Бондаренко. В 2015 году Витебский областной суд признал его виновным по нескольким статьям — разглашение служебной тайны, незаконные средства для сбора информации, дача взятки — и приговорил к лишению свободы в условиях строгого режима. В октябре того же года Верховный суд усилил наказание на полгода.
Освобождён в феврале 2021 года, полностью отбыв назначенный судом срок наказания.
23 января 2024 года Михаила вновь задержали, при обыске и допросах к нему применяли насилие. После выхода из изолятора он покинул Беларусь.
Trial outcome 10.07.2015
6 years of imprisonment in colony in strict regime conditions, deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities.
Appeal 23.10.2015
6 years 6 months of imprisonment in colony in strict regime conditions, deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities.
On the afternoon of September 19, law enforcement officers, claiming to be from the Oktyabrsky District Criminal Investigation Department in Grodno, raided the home of Andrei Meleshko's ailing mother. On September 30, they began to stink at his sister. According to the criminal investigation officers, the criminal case was opened because of two interviews he gave in 2023 and 2024 to media outlets designated as "extremist groups" in Belarus.
Recently, the Ministry of Information added Andrei Meleshko's Instagram accounts, amialeshka and batumiby.ge, and the journalist's Telegram channel, "Sakartvelo-Belarus," which sells merchandise with Belarusian symbols, to its list of "extremist" materials. Meleshko also claims that in 2023, criminal cases were opened against him for participating in "extremist" groups—the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and Radio Racyja. However, there have been no further developments in these cases; at least, Andrei hasn't been informed of anything.
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