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Koval was detained on May 28, 2023 right at the border. He was returning from a competition in Slovakia, and upon entering Belarus, Koval’s phone was asked to be checked. The man himself provided the security forces with his phone and password. During the examination, he was found to have data that was “prohibited” according to the Belarusian security forces. Since that day, Koval has been in captivity.
At the criminal trial, Koval was accused of sending a video to the Nexta Editorial telegram bot on March 27, 2022. The video showed the movement of military equipment on the MKAD ring road (around Minsk). Thus, according to the state prosecution, Koval committed a crime, because the Belarusian authorities consider Nexta an “extremist formation.”
2.5 years imprisonment in a colony
According to the USC for the Mogilev region, Ruslan forwarded the video to the VKontakte public DVIZh, which was recognized by the Belarusian authorities as “extremist”. It is worth noting that the video itself lasts only 12 seconds and nothing actually happens in it - the train with military equipment just stands at the station.
After a while, the man was detained by the KGB. He was charged under part 1 of article 361-4 (assistance to extremist activity) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. The man faces up to 6 years in prison.
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It became known about the detention of Yevgeny Glushkov, a resident of the village of Zyabrovka in the Gomel region. According to some media reports, on the night of August 10-11, 2022, an incident occurred at the airfield in Zyabrovka, about which the media wrote a lot, then local checks began.
Eugene found an old picture of the airfield in his phone, which he took from a drone. And we also found contacts of different Ukrainians. That was enough to detain him. The guy before his detention worked as a veterinarian in one of the clinics in Gomel, has exceptionally positive characteristics from employers. Before the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Yevgeny lived abroad for a long time. In recent years - in China, where he studied music and planned to stay to live. But due to the coronavirus epidemic, he was left without sources of income and was forced to return to his homeland.
9 years of imprisonment in a penal colony of strict regime.
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«Intex-press» journalist from Baranovichi.
He was detained on April 27, 2022. On April 29, he was sentenced to 10 days of arrest.
About a week after the journalist's detention, a fragment of a video from his interrogation and information about the reason for Gontsarevich's detention appeared in the telegram channels supporting the current government in the Republic of Belarus: he allegedly photographed Russian military equipment and sent pictures to the media, recognized by the Belarusian authorities as extremist.
2,5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony of general regime.
According to the version of the telegrams of channels supporting the current government in the Republic of Belarus, he was detained for a photo of railway transport. He was previously arrested under an administrative article. A citizen of Moldova.
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It is reported that the man was detained for the events of August 2020, but law enforcement officers found photos of military equipment in his phone, which he uploaded to the telegram channel «Kalinkovichi for Life» on February 23.
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- Parents of minors
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- Parents of minors
Maxim was detained after Belarusian security forces gained access to the correspondence of the Gayun monitoring project bot, where people sent information about the movements of Russian troops. Soon, the GUBOPiK Telegram channel showed the first person detained due to the leak - Maxim Nikitenko. He is 42 years old, a native of Mozyr. In recent years, he worked at the Mozyr Oil Refinery.
According to the case materials , the defendant subscribed to Telegram channels in 2022 and actively participated in their activities through Telegram bots. Specifically, while in Gomel, he took photos and videos of military equipment movements. He then sent these photos and videos, along with commentary on the vehicles' routes, to Telegram channels through the bots that facilitated his activities. The court ruled that the Telegram resources used by the defendant constituted extremist material.
Graduate of the River Fleet vocational school.
On January 9, 2024, the appeal was heard. The verdict entered into force.
According to human rights activists , he will be released in the fall of 2025.
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The girl is a citizen of Ukraine, originally from the city of Kherson. She studied in China, graduated from the university there in 2015, and in 2016 moved to Belarus. In Belarus she worked as a translator from Chinese.
Ekaterina was detained while crossing the Belarusian border. They demanded that she give her phone for verification; she provided it to the employees along with the passwords. Belarusian security forces found that on March 30, 2022, she sent 2 videos to the chatbot of the Zerkalo editorial office. The video showed the movement of Russian military equipment near Minsk, which she herself captured.
On December 12, 2023, the appeal was considered. The verdict came into force.
On the evening of June 28, 2024, sudden information appeared about the release of five political prisoners from Belarusian colonies. The Ukrainian authorities achieved the release of their exchange citizens as prisoners. This is how Natalya Zakharenko, Pavel Kuprienko, Lyudmila Goncharenko, Ekaterina Bryukhanova, as well as Nikolai Shvets, a defendant in the “Machulishchi case,” were released. The terms of the exchange were not disclosed. It is noted that the Vatican took part in the liberation. The released political prisoners were brought to Ukraine on June 28 - their photo from the Zhulyany airport appeared in the media.
The basis for the criminal case was that on March 11, 2022 Mozol sent one message to the telegram bot “NEXTA Editorial”: “Stolin, Brest region. Border with Ukraine. I confirm that missiles were fired from a fighter jet.” According to the prosecution, in this way Sergei Mozol deliberately contributed to the activities of the “extremist formation NEXTA.”
However, at the trial, Mozol said that he learned about the status of an “extremist formation” from the telegram channel “NEXTA” “only 4 months ago” (that is, in February 2023). When I found out about the status, I unsubscribed (and also unsubscribed from “BYPOL”, “Belaruski Gayun”, “Real Belarus”).
On September 05, 2023, an appeal hearing was held. The verdict came into force.
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Inhabitant of Baranovichi. He was arrested in mid-February 2023. The man was charged with the fact that on March 8, 2021 on Instagram he posted a story “with the face of Lukashenka in a female guise” and the text: “Since March 8, daragia of a woman. The cruelest health and only pleasant ashchushcheny. For this, they were accused of publicly insulting Lukashenka.
Vladislav was also accused of sending videos and texts to the Nexta editorial chatbot several times (for example, videos of Russian military aircraft and trains with Russian military). This was qualified as "other assistance to extremist activity" under Part 1 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code.
On September 05, 2023, the appeal court hearing was held. The verdict came into force.
According to pro-government telegram channels, he was detained "for promoting extremist activities."
A resident of Zhlobin, born in Bobruisk. He was tried for a video of planes in Zhlobin. At the trial, he said that "he was scared and thought that a war had started here too." The case was heard by judge Oleg Khoroshko.
According to human rights activists , he was released on October 22, 2024, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.
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Valentin Fedorenko sent 160 text messages from a push-button phone to the Polish number of the Belsat TV channel. For this, he was accused of facilitating extremist activities. Valentin, who suffers from a mental illness, faced up to six years in prison. According to the source of Radio Svaboda, Valentin suffers from an incurable mental illness. The diagnosis was made back in the 1980s. After that, the pensioner did not go to the doctors. At the trial, the examination confirmed that the disease is incurable and only remission can occur. Fedorenko was sent for a new forensic examination.
In the messages, the man wrote about the movement of Russian military equipment in Gomel and the takeoffs of Russian aircraft from the airfields of the Gomel region. At the court hearing, Valentin admitted his guilt and repented. He stated that he did not know that the Belsat TV channel was an extremist formation.
He was detained for driving a car near Pinsk and looking at the location of military units. According to the investigation, Anton sent this data to a Belarusian Telegram channel and to someone in Ukraine.
Anton was tried for leaking state secrets. The trial was held behind closed doors, so the details of how the hearing went are unknown.
In November 2024, he was released after serving his sentence.