All persecuted
- Home
- All persecuted
The essence of the case and the verdict were commented on by the assistant prosecutor of Brest on state television. From the video and the prosecutor’s commentary, it follows that Sankovskaya was charged with the following: in 2020 and 2021, in one telegram chat she published an image of the state flag of Belarus, and in the background there was a Nazi swastika (this was a “desecration of state symbols”), and also again in Telegram messenger published an “insulting” message about Yuri Karaev (remember that from June 2019 to the end of October 2020 Karaev was the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after which he took the post of Assistant to the President for the Grodno region), and also in the Telegram messenger published several messages about A. Lukashenko, which were also considered “offensive.”
1.5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony.
Alexander was convicted in December 2023 under the article "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them" and was sentenced to restricted freedom with referral to an open-type institution.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
The man was accused of writing several Internet comments about A. Lukashenko, which were considered a "public insult." The hearing took place at the Baranovichi State College of Light Industry. As a result, Tatsin was sentenced to 1 year in prison and handcuffed in front of college students, according to a report on state television.
On 30.01.2024, the appeal was heard. The verdict came into force.
The first episode happened back in January 2022. Then Baranovsky made a transfer from his bank account to an unnamed structure recognized as an extremist formation. The exact amount of the transfer is unknown. In April 2022, Baranovsky made a donation to the account of the Kalinovsky Regiment. It is known that the man was detained in the spring of 2023 by employees of the Office of the State Security Committee for the Mogilev region.
- Associations
- IT staff
- Associations
- IT staff
Konstantin was detained in October 2023 upon returning to Belarus from Poland, where he had most recently lived. He was accused of posting “numerous offensive comments” and later convicted of several online statements that, according to the prosecution, contained negative assessments of Lukashenko. Konstantin was also charged with insulting government officials, but this was dropped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
In September 2024, he was released under a pardon.
- Associations
- Retirees
- Associations
- Retirees
Okolotovich was arrested at a cemetery. The KGB lured the priest there by tricking him into coming there: they called him and told him a woman had died and needed a Catholic burial. At the cemetery, they handcuffed him and placed a black helmet on his head so no one could see who was being taken or where.
Two of his parishioners, a man and a woman, were detained at the same time. They spent approximately nine months in a KGB pretrial detention center, where they were forced to testify about the priest's alleged meetings with foreign diplomats.
The charges ultimately brought against Okolotovich were outlandish: he allegedly somehow diverted Russian and Belarusian air force planes in the opposite direction, thereby causing damage not only to Belarus but also to the Russian Aerospace Forces—a total of one million euros. Upon his arrest, approximately 270,000 euros were confiscated from him—mostly parish funds, not the priest's personal funds. This sum was applied toward the debt, and the remainder was claimed as additional payment in Belarusian rubles.
By that time, Okolotovich had already been under surveillance for a long time, but nothing could be found that would prove espionage.
The priest became the latest religious figure to be affected by the regime's repression of religious communities in Belarus.
Genrikh suffered a heart attack and recently underwent stomach surgery for cancer. He requires medical supervision and constant medication. He slept on the floor and boards for over a year; he was only moved to a bunk bed before the trial.
The KGB offered Okolotovych a special condition for his release. Upon returning to Volozhin, he was to invite the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to a church service and discreetly hand him a flash drive containing incriminating evidence—a pretext to discredit the diplomat. At the time, Ante Jozic was the nuncio to Belarus. This provocation against the nuncio wasn't the only one: according to Krylov, the KGB proposed similar scenarios against other foreign diplomats, primarily Polish ones. The priest refused everything: "I am completely imbued with God's ecclesiastical purposes. And what you demand of me is a crime. I cannot betray God."
In November 2025, he was pardoned after a visit to Belarus by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, as a special envoy of Pope Leo XIV.
On January 26, 2024 , the appeal was considered, and the verdict came into force.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
Detained in May 2023 for “distribution, production, storage, transportation of information products containing calls for extremist activities or promoting such activities.” After the administrative punishment, a criminal case was opened.
On April 16, 2024, Oleg’s appeal was considered, and the verdict came into force.
According to the case materials , Savinsky transferred the equivalent of 50 US dollars to the accounts of funds recognized as “extremist” over the course of a year and a half. At the same time, he repeatedly used his Facebook account. He also created and posted 4 text messages in one of the telegram chats, allegedly aimed at “inciting social hostility in society.”
On January 12, 2024, an appeal hearing was held. The verdict came into force.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
Artyom was found guilty in December 2023 of several criminal charges, including "insulting a government official," and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
He was released on March 20, 2026, as part of a pardon following another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole.
On 16.01.2024, the appeal was heard. The verdict came into force.
Released in December 2024 under pardon.
- Associations
- Journalists
- Associations
- Journalists
Borisov photographer who was detained on June 22, 2023. Security forces searched the house and took away computer equipment. After this, Zenkov was immediately taken to Minsk, where he was kept for some time in the temporary detention center on Akrestsin, and then transferred to pre-trial detention center No. 1.
As BAJ wrote , the photographer was detained in July 2020. In September, police officers came to Zenkov to “warn him about the inadmissibility of violating the law.”
Alexander Zenkov has worked as a freelance photographer since 1998, collaborating with regional independent publications.
On April 16, 2024, Alexander had a hearing of his appeal.