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Natalia was convicted on charges of “active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order” for participating in protests that took place in 2020 in Minsk against the election results and violence in the country by security forces, and sentenced to restriction of freedom without direction.
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Lyudmila, a pensioner with cancer, endured a house search, nearly a dozen interrogations, an investigation into one criminal case, and charges in another in the six months leading up to her trial. In September 2021, she was found guilty of insulting a police officer from Vileika, Zharikov. The charge stemmed from a comment under a social media post that contained the single word "creature."
Alina was found guilty in September 2021 for the comment "Death" left on the social media site Odnoklassniki, addressed to Savich, a warrant officer in the Minsk City Executive Committee's riot police company. According to the prosecution, the comment humiliated the recipient and was deemed offensive.
Vera was convicted in September 2021 for a comment she left in October 2020 about police officer Vitaly Shnyavin. The comment was published on Instagram (in the "Typical Vitebsk" public group) under a post featuring photographs of Shnyavin, one of which was taken on September 13, 2020, during a mass protest in Vitebsk, during which a police officer used tear gas.
According to human rights activists, Vera was released in May 2023, having fully served her sentence.
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Irina, a Russian citizen, was arrested on May 28, 2021, in Brest and convicted in September of that year for a tweet published on May 23. It contained a link to a LiveJournal post reprinting a BBC Russian Service report on the incident with the Ryanair flight carrying Roman Protasevich. She added her own headline to the reprint: "Lukashenko's latest crime: an act of state aviation piracy." The expression "an act of state aviation piracy" was used in the BBC text as a quote from the Greek Foreign Ministry's response.
On September 1, 2022, she was released after serving her sentence and immediately deported to Russia with a 10-year ban on entering Belarus.
Alesya was found guilty for a comment left on July 9, 2020, on Olga Karach's Odnoklassniki page under a post about a police officer from Bobruisk named Komar. Under his photo, Alesya wrote, "What a mug!"
Yulia was found guilty in August 2021 for a comment left in the "Partizany" Telegram chat under a message containing the personal information of Alina Kasyanchik, assistant prosecutor of the Frunzensky District, and information about her trial for the caption "We will not forget! We will not forgive!" According to investigators, the comment was posted with the intent to publicly insult a government official and create a derogatory image in the public eye.
In 2022, Yulia faced another court hearing for "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them." She was presumably found guilty under this charge for participating in the post-election protests that took place in Minsk in 2020, as Yulia stated at her previous trial that she attended all the marches and remains a supporter of Viktar Babaryka. The outcome of the hearing is unknown.
Larisa was first arrested on September 27, 2020, and convicted of an administrative offense. After the trial, she suffered a seizure and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Larisa suffers from depressive anxiety disorder and claustrophobia.
On August 6, 2021, security forces came to her workplace, conducted a search, and after interrogation, placed her in a temporary detention facility for three days. After this period, she was charged with violence or threat of violence against police officers for participating in a Sunday march on September 27, 2020, in Gomel, during which security forces used tear gas and stun grenades. According to the prosecution, Larisa "used brute force to grab a security officer by the arm, move him, and thereby obstruct his work."
In December 2021, Larisa was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
She was released in May 2023, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
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Daria, a first-year student in the Faculty of Geography at BSU, was convicted for allegedly making an offensive comment in a chat room about a representative of the Lida Investigative Committee and for participating in post-election protests that took place in Lida in 2020.
In February 2023, another court hearing was held under the supervisory procedure under the same articles.
Daria was released in February 2024, having fully served her sentence.
Anastasia was found guilty for a comment left on March 25, 2021, on the Telegram channel "Punishermen of Belarus," which has been designated as extremist. She said she wrote it amid intense emotions and distress over the violence perpetrated by security forces against a close friend.
Tatyana was convicted of "participation in group actions that grossly violate public order" in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Brest on September 13, 2020. During the protest, people sang and danced in circles, and a water cannon was used against them.
Ekaterina was convicted of "participating in group actions that grossly violate public order" in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Brest on September 13, 2020. During the protest, people sang and danced in circles, and a water cannon was used against them.
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Irina, editor-in-chief and director of the BelaPAN news agency, was detained on August 18, 2021, following searches of her home and the agency's offices, as well as an interrogation. She was initially placed in pretrial detention for 72 hours as part of a criminal case under the article "organizing or preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or participating in them." However, she was not released and was transferred to a pretrial detention center 10 days later. The charge was later amended to tax evasion.
In November 2021, it was revealed that Irina had also been charged with "creating an extremist group." In October 2022, she was found guilty of "participating in an extremist group," sentenced to imprisonment, and banned from holding certain positions for five years.
Irina was released in December 2024, having fully served her sentence imposed by the court.
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Anna, a prominent activist who supported Viktor Babaryka, was arrested on July 26, 2021, in connection with a criminal case opened for defamation against Lukashenko. In November of that year, she was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
According to human rights activists, she was released in the spring of 2024, having fully served her sentence.
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Natalya was found guilty for a comment she left on a Telegram channel, in which she commented on the actions of Mikhalochkin, a traffic police lieutenant in the city of Kamenets (Brest Region). During the investigation, she explained that she was motivated by the fact that Mikhalochkin's father, while working at a school, "raised his son profitably."