All persecuted

Andrey Berestovoy has over 20 years of experience in design, and the last 15 years he has been working in IT. In the second half of 2024, he was detained. It is only known that the reason for the detention could have been Berestovoy's comments on Telegram. He used an old account linked to his own Belarusian number, and an old nickname that he used everywhere.

It is known that he periodically traveled to Belarus.

He worked as a taxi driver. He is a father of many children, with six children from two marriages.

He was detained in connection with a terrorism case. He was severely beaten during interrogation (Viktor even had his arm broken). According to the KGB, Viktor Yaskich and Yevhen Gruk were convicted under Article 289 of the Criminal Code (act of terrorism) and Article 295 of the Criminal Code (illegal actions involving firearms, ammunition, and explosives). Their arrest became known in early April 2024 from a report on ONT. According to the propagandists, security forces detained at least 12 people, including Gruk and Yaskich, accused of smuggling explosives and planning terrorist attacks. According to the reporter, Gruk was an informant for the SBU: he photographed military equipment and transmitted its coordinates. Gruk was then ordered to retrieve the explosives from a hiding place. Yaskich gave Gruk a ride to the hiding place. Subsequently, the two were supposed to distribute the explosives from the hiding place to new hiding places. The report does not explain the rationale behind this action.

The trial took place in May 2025. The verdict is unknown; Viktor was held in pretrial detention before the trial.

Evgeny received his higher education at Brest State Technical University, where he studied by correspondence at the Faculty of Innovation Activities, specializing in Industrial and Civil Construction.

Since 2012, the man has been registered as a sole proprietor. Until 2018, he owned an online store selling electronic vaporizers, commonly known as vapes.

However, recently Evgeny has been earning a living in his construction profession.

Dmitry and Olga Kapuzy, 36, were detained on January 16, 2024. The couple hails from the Drogichin district and lived near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Following their detention, state television aired a propaganda video, "Purge. Fighting Saboteurs and Agents of Ukrainian Special Services in Belarus," accusing them of smuggling goods from Ukraine. A total of 12 people were detained at the time. According to the propaganda, the couple allegedly worked for Ukrainian special services. It was claimed that the residents of the Drogichin district assisted the Security Service of Ukraine by seizing explosives and making caches in Belarus.

A propaganda video showed Dmitry being shot in the thigh during his arrest. Later, he was shown walking on crutches. Dmitry's brother was beaten on the head by KGB officers immediately after his arrest.

One of the released political prisoners, who shared custody with Kapuza in Pretrial Detention Center No. 7, said that initially , the charges were brought under Article 289 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus— terrorism . However, this article requires an explosion , arson , or other actions creating a danger of death . Then, the KGB reclassified the case under Article 356 of the Criminal Code—" Treason." As Kapuza himself explained to a cellmate, he owned a house in the village of Svaryn in the Drogichin district, not far from the Ukrainian border. He smuggled amber , cigarettes , and vodka there . He could transport the goods directly , or hide them and transport them in parts for safety. Apparently , one of the storage facilities was discovered by the KGB , and explosives were planted there. Kapuza learned of this after his arrest. During his arrest, people jumped out of the minibus , ran up to his car, opened the door , and without a word, shot him twice in the leg . Dmitry received minimal medical attention . He was lucky that gangrene didn't set in and that his leg survived. Dmitry, who hadn't admitted guilt at the time , was severely beaten to extract a confession.

Dmitry and Olga Kapuzy, 36, were detained on January 16, 2024. The couple hails from the Drogichin district and lived near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Following their detention, state television aired a propaganda video titled "Purge. The Fight Against Saboteurs and Agents of Ukrainian Special Services in Belarus," accusing them of smuggling goods from Ukraine. A total of 12 people were detained at the time. According to the propaganda, the couple allegedly worked for Ukrainian special services. It was claimed that the residents of the Drogichin district assisted the Security Service of Ukraine by seizing explosives and making caches in Belarus.

According to information from social networks, Shlyakhtenok was born in Krasnoselsky in the Volkovysk district. He studied to be a history teacher at the Grodno State University. He worked as a welder and at a service station. In 2015, he got a job at the Mostovsky district military registration and enlistment office, where he was responsible for keeping records of reserve officers.

The last time Evgeniy was online was in October 2024.

Evgeniy was arrested in December 2024 and sentenced to imprisonment in June 2025.

Ivan most recently worked at Belenergo, installing and configuring fiber-optic networks and communications.

Ivan is a very active Telegram commentator. From 2019 to 2025, he left over 50,000 messages in open chats. Most of them weren't political—he discussed technology, offering professional advice on editing and network tools. However, he also wrote about politics. Kochanov supported the movement for free elections and condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, he criticized Europe and NATO, spoke out against the persecution of Belarusians abroad and repression, as well as against repression for the Russian language in Ukraine, as this "incites aggression."

He was convicted for comments in a chat room deemed extremist and for participating in protests in 2020. Two weeks after being transferred to the penal colony, Ivan was charged with a second criminal case related to the "Belarusian Gayun" chat room and was again transferred to a pretrial detention facility.

Most likely he was arrested in early December 2024.

Alexander graduated from the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and went to work in the police. He rose to the rank of duty inspector of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee and the rank of captain. In 2012, he was dismissed from the police.

In 2013, Mazurin got a job as the head of the security department at the woodworking company Interdoors. The company employs more than 150 people.

Alexander also has the status of an individual entrepreneur, whose area of activity is software development and consulting in this area.

He worked as a programmer at the Minsk plant "Atlant".

In 2021, Demenchenko graduated from the Faculty of Information Technology at Polotsk State University, after which he worked as an electronics engineer at the Novopolotsk Central District Hospital, from where he resigned in the fall of 2022.

Over the following years, there were notes on social networks that the guy lived in Grodno and Warsaw. The last time Demenchenko was online was at the end of 2023. After that, he was most likely arrested.

Demenchenko was accused of "causing harm to the national security of Belarus." He could have been sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison, but the sentence would have been in a penal colony in any case. The nature of the charge and the exact term are unknown.

On June 24, 2024, a hearing was held under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus: Distribution, production, storage, and transportation of information products containing calls for extremist activity or promoting such activity. As of April 2025, he was in Pretrial Detention Center No. 1. The prosecution may be politically motivated.

Maxim Solop is 36 years old. He is originally from Brest. In 2012, he graduated from the Physics Department of the Francisk Skorina Gomel State University. He worked as an engineer at the Brest Information Computing Center for Export-Import Transportation of the Belarusian Railway.

Maxim loves traveling and active recreation, and also engages in various sports and leads a healthy lifestyle.

His trial will begin on February 24, 2025, in the Brest City Court. Maxim is accused of "calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of Belarus" (Part 3 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code).

Artem has worked in this field all his life - as a veterinarian, a teacher at the Smilovichi State Agricultural College, a technician. He is also the director of the veterinary company "Khimvet".

Artem's last comments date back to May 2024, after which he disappeared from social media. That's probably when he was detained .

It seems that the issue is in his social media posts and comments on Telegram - the accounts are called by his own name, and the Telegram account is linked to Artem's own phone.

Dmitry started in the 1990s in Borisov. After 1998, he moved to the investigation department of the Zhodino GOVD, and from 2004 to 2012 he headed it. Then he worked in the Investigative Committee, from where he retired. After retirement, he worked at the Smolevichi Dairy Plant and was a city deputy in Zhodino.

In 2020, he and four other former employees of the Zhodino City Department of Internal Affairs recorded an appeal to colleagues who worked in the Zhodino police during the protests and to all law enforcement officers in Belarus.

"By following the orders given by your superiors, you may become accomplices to crimes. You cannot beat up people who are simply returning from work on the night shift. <…> I know of cases where people were detained for no reason and excessive cruelty was shown - you should not do this," Vdovin said in his address.

According to media reports , all five were detained in early February 2024.