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Due to the closed nature of the Belarusian judicial system, the circumstances of the case and the verdict are unknown. There is only information that he was sentenced to a real term of imprisonment and is being held in prison.
It is most likely that the authorities repressed Vyacheslav Berestov for his participation in peaceful protests against the falsification of the results of the presidential elections and the subsequent police violence against the protesters.
Vyacheslav is the brother of political prisoner Andrei Berestovoy, who was also convicted under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Part 3 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Article 361-2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. It is known that he was sentenced to imprisonment.
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Zhanna was detained on May 11, 2023, right at School No. 63, where she came to meet her child's teacher. In October of the same year, she was convicted on several criminal charges, including "inciting hatred."
According to media reports, during the 2020 protests, police detained her on administrative charges.
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Stanislav, an activist from Gomel, was detained on May 28, 2021, after security forces conducted a search in his apartment, where he lived with his parents. Prior to this, he had served three administrative arrests under Article 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus for participating in protests.
Stanislav was convicted under two criminal articles for participating in a chain at the Solidarity March, which took place on September 20, 2020 in Gomel. He refused to sign a petition for pardon and defended his rights even in difficult prison conditions, despite health problems. He was left without care for his underage daughter and elderly parents, his father is disabled.
He was released in December 2023, having fully served his sentence.
In December 2024, it became known that Stanislav was again detained in a new criminal case.
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- Detained under 18 years
Nikita was arrested and convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail towards military personnel on August 10, 2020, according to investigators. The prosecution claimed that the bottles were hidden and given to him by Leonid Kovalev with an offer to set fire to a building, bus, or paddy wagon. Nikita refused to testify, did not admit guilt, and reported physical and psychological pressure in the pretrial detention center. At the time of his arrest, he was 16 years old and suffers from epilepsy.
In July 2021, he was convicted again under the article on "violence or threat of violence" for an incident with pretrial detention center employees. In June 2022, Nikita was transferred to an adult colony after turning 18, and in August of the same year, his punishment was toughened, sending him to prison.
In July 2024, the political prisoner was tried for “malicious disobedience to the prison administration,” a charge often applied to prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the administration.
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Dmitry was arrested and convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail towards military personnel on August 10, 2020. According to investigators, the bottles were transported to the center of Gomel by Leonid Kovalev, who hid them and handed them over to Dmitry and Nikita Zolotorev that evening with an offer to set fire to a building, bus or paddy wagon. Dmitry partially admitted his guilt, explaining that he threw the cocktail in order to buy time and avoid detention.
In December 2021, he was transferred to prison regime for “malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional institution.”
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Leonid was arrested and convicted for, according to investigators, making two Molotov cocktails, transporting them to the center of Gomel, and hiding them. On the evening of August 10, 2020, he allegedly found two perpetrators — Dmitry Korneev and Nikita Zolotorev — and handed them the bottles, offering to set fire to a building, a bus, or a paddy wagon. Leonid did not admit guilt.
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A member of the initiative group of presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was detained on September 27, 2020, in Gomel during a peaceful protest and accused of participating in "mass riots" and planning to "seize buildings."
In the winter of 2023, Dmitry was transferred to prison regime.
On 22.12.2023, an appeal hearing was held and the verdict came into force.
He was released, presumably , in the spring of 2024. Since in May the search party "Simuran " reported that on May 10 Alexander left home and disappeared. Volunteers specified that he may need medical assistance .
Since then, Vitukhnovsky has not been heard from. On social media, Flagstok journalists found his selfie from June 24, 2024, and a blurry photo of a man in uniform, similar to an infantryman, from the back from November 4, 2024. His name was found on the list of Belarusian citizens who joined the Russian army.
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A Gomel activist, organizer of travel, rafting, walking, was detained by a special purpose police detachment in his house on the morning of March 1, 2022.
Six members of the special purpose police unit participated in the arrest, who used physical force, laying Igor face to the floor.
Artur was convicted of creating and installing an installation featuring a portrait of Lukashenko and the inscription "Burn in Hell" in a vacant lot in November 2020, posting a photo of it in a Telegram chat, and discussing protest activity in the spring of 2021 in another chat, which investigators deemed inciting social hatred.
In the fall of 2024, he was released, having fully served his sentence imposed by the court.
Viktor was first detained on September 27, 2020, during one of the protests in Gomel. In the detention center, he was informed that a criminal case had been opened for "resisting police officers." The case was soon closed, but the prosecutor's office sent it for additional investigation, as a result of which the charges were reclassified. Viktor was taken into custody again on June 17, 2021.
In September of the same year, he was found guilty of “violence or threat of violence against a police officer” and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in a general regime penal colony.
In April 2022, the court additionally found him guilty of "participation in actions that grossly violate public order" and sentenced him to another year and a half in prison. By partially adding up the sentences, the final term was 3.5 years in a maximum security penal colony.
According to human rights activists, he was released in the fall of 2024, having fully served his sentence.
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Dmitry, a Belorusneft employee from Gomel, along with other employees of the company, took part in recording an appeal against violence and for dialogue. At the end of October 2020, he also recorded a video message for TUT.BY to his colleagues and the management of Belorusneft, in which he condemned the repressions, called for not hushing up what was happening and openly expressing their civic position.
He was arrested on May 14, 2021, and later convicted of “organizing or actively participating in group actions that grossly violate public order.”
He was released in December 2023, having fully served his sentence.
Maxim was arrested in March 2021 and convicted twice for “participating in group actions that grossly violate public order.”
He was released in July 2022, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.
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Anastasia was convicted under the administrative article on participation in unauthorized mass events (24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) seven times in a row, as a result of which the total number of assigned days was 105. Also, searches were conducted at her place of residence and in her grandfather's house, during which all equipment was confiscated.
She was released in May 2021.
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Pavel was detained as part of a criminal case opened after a protest that took place on September 20, 2020, in Gomel, and convicted of alleged violence against a criminal executive inspector, Pavel Shapovalov.
He was released in November 2023, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.