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Maxim, a former riot police officer, resigned from the service in 2012 (he had decided to leave back in 2010, after the elections). He later went to live in Poland but was forced to return to Belarus and was detained at his home in the agricultural town of Khotzezhino on August 17, 2021. Following his arrest, GUBOPiK officers recorded a "confessional" video with him, in which he spoke about his involvement in the events of August 9–11, 2020. Pro-government Telegram channels, however, portrayed him as a former security officer who resigned in protest in 2020, which was untrue.
In November 2021, Maxim was found guilty of "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them" and sentenced to restricted freedom without placement in an open-type facility.
In September 2024, a court hearing was held to discuss the issue of replacing the restriction of freedom with a commitment to an open correctional facility. The outcome of the hearing, as well as Maxim's presence, remains unknown.
Ruslan was first detained on August 10, 2020, during a protest in Brest against election fraud. After a brutal beating, he was hospitalized and subsequently sentenced to seven days of administrative arrest. A criminal case was later opened against him, but he fled the country during the investigation.
Upon returning to Belarus, Ruslan attempted to cross the border into the European Union but was detained . In November 2021, he was convicted of participating in "mass riots."
In July 2024, he was convicted again, this time for "malicious disobedience to the demands of the correctional facility administration." This article is used to prosecute prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the administration, based on fictitious violations.
He was released in the summer of 2026, having served his full sentence.
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Gleb is a defendant in a criminal case opened after spontaneous protests on August 10, 2020 in Brest against falsifications in the presidential elections. During the investigation, he left the country, and upon returning to Belarus, he was detained while trying to cross the border into the European Union. In November 2021, he was convicted of participating in "mass riots."
He was released in July 2024, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.
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Alexander, a neurologist, worked in Norilsk, Russia. He was detained in May 2021 upon his return to Belarus in connection with a criminal case opened for insulting law enforcement officials.
In January 2022, he was convicted under three criminal articles for comments addressed to 32 officials. As Alexander himself explained, he left them emotionally, since during the August 2020 protests he volunteered near the detention center on Okrestina. In addition to imprisonment, the court ordered him to pay moral compensation in favor of 20 employees. At the hearing, it also became known that one of the victims in the case beat Alexander during his arrest.
In November 2022, he was convicted again under the articles “insulting a government official” and “threatening violence against an official.”
On April 3, 2024, his punishment was increased and he was transferred to prison.
He was released in November 2024, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.
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Andrei is a Russian citizen and a volunteer for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's initiative group. He was first detained on June 6, 2020, in Belarus for participating in a picket to collect signatures, which was considered an unauthorized event. He was soon charged under the article on "preparing and organizing actions that grossly violate public order."
On November 26, 2020, Andrei was taken to the border with Russia and banned from entering Belarus for 10 years. He left behind a wife and two children in the country.
On April 13, 2021, he was detained again in the village of Prusy, where he had secretly come to visit his family. He was later convicted of “illegal border crossing,” although the charges in the previous case were not dropped.
He was released in October 2022 after completing his sentence and deported to Russia.
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Alexander, an activist and well-known Belarusian artist, was arrested in late March 2021 on charges of “rehabilitating Nazism” after he displayed a portrait of Yevgeny Zhikhar with a machine gun over his shoulder at an exhibition at the Grodno City Life Center. The prosecutor’s office claimed that Alexander “characterized Zhikhar as a fighter against the Bolsheviks, glorifying his actions.” Despite the threat of prosecution, Alexander did not cancel his return to Belarus from Ukraine, where his exhibition was taking place.
On March 25, 2022, during the trial, he cut his stomach in protest, for which he received 13 days in solitary confinement. He was later convicted of "inciting hatred or discord" and "desecration of state symbols." The political prisoner refused to file an appeal.
As it became known, in November 2022, Alexander's type of punishment was toughened and he was transferred to prison regime.
On July 11, 2023, Alexander died in intensive care due to untimely medical care for a perforated ulcer.
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Anna, director of the Polish School LLC in Brest, was detained in March 2021 upon her return to Belarus as part of a criminal case on the "glorification of war criminals". The reason for the investigation was an "illegal mass event" in memory of the "damned soldiers" that took place on February 28 in a building rented by the Brest Forum of Polish Local Initiatives and the Polish School.
At the end of May 2021, Anna was released and deported to Poland.
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Vitalia was detained upon her return to Belarus as part of a criminal case opened after spontaneous protests against the falsification of the presidential elections that took place on August 10, 2020 in Brest. She was convicted of participating in "mass riots." According to the case materials, the total damage amounted to about 24 thousand Belarusian rubles.
She was released in December 2024, having fully served her sentence as determined by the court.
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Artem was detained on August 17, 2020 and convicted for participating in protest actions.
He was released in August 2021 after serving his full sentence as determined by the court.
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David was detained upon his return from Poland as part of a criminal case opened after spontaneous protests against fraud in the presidential elections that took place in Brest on August 10, 2020. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."
On January 21, 2023, he was released, having fully served his sentence imposed by the court.