Natalia Sergeevna Alyokhina

Valeria is a political scientist, founder and editor of the website of the expert community "Our Opinion," author and editor of the "Belarusian Yearbook," and head of the expert monitoring group "Belarus in Focus."

On June 30, 2021, following a search of her home by KGB officers, Valeria was detained and placed in a detention center, later transferred to a pretrial detention center.

On February 6, 2023, the court began hearing her case on charges of "aiding and abetting actions aimed at seizing power," "calling for actions harmful to national security," and "inciting social discord." On March 17, 2023, the court, behind closed doors, sentenced Valeria to 10 years' imprisonment in a general regime penal colony.

She 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.

Lyudmila was convicted of insulting Lukashenko and arrested right in the courtroom. According to the prosecution, on August 12, 2020, she posted a long message with expressions addressed to Lukashenko on the social network VKontakte from her husband's account. At the trial, the woman explained that she published it for herself and did not realize that the post was available to other users. According to her, the page usually posted photos of animals, and this message was published publicly by mistake.

Lyudmila was released on March 9, 2022, as part of a pardon.

Sofia, a student at the European Humanities University and a citizen of the Russian Federation, was detained in May 2021 after the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk by Belarusian authorities. The plane was en route from Athens to Vilnius. Sofia was accused of administering the Telegram channel "Black Book of Belarus", which published personal data and information about the private lives of civil servants.

At the end of December 2021, she was finally charged under seven articles of the Criminal Code, after which the case was referred to court.

The case was heard behind closed doors. In May 2022, Sofia was found guilty of two criminal charges. Following the trial, she was sentenced to imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation to the victims and court fees totaling about $70,000. The entire amount was subsequently paid by her family.

Sofia was released in June 2023 as part of a pardon.

Olga, a blogger and designer, has been repeatedly persecuted and detained under administrative articles following the events that followed the 2020 elections in Minsk. In May 2021, her home was searched, after which Olga was detained as part of a criminal case opened on charges of "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them." Before that, she was already a suspect under two articles of the Criminal Code - "insulting a judge" and "slandering an election commission employee."

In December of the same year, Olga was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.

She was released in June 2022, having served her full sentence as determined by the court.

Alina was convicted for performances with mannequins in the form of police officers with the inscription "OMON". Before her arrest in the courtroom, she had been under house arrest since January 2021.

She was released in February 2022, having fully served her sentence.

Valentina was first convicted in May 2021 for “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. At that time, the participants were singing and dancing in a circle, and a water cannon was used against them.

In April 2024, it became known that Valentina was detained for participating in a protest on August 10, 2020 in Brest against falsifications in the presidential elections. In August of the same year, she was sentenced to imprisonment, counting the previously imposed punishment in the form of "house arrest" towards her term.

She was released in the fall of 2024, having fully served her sentence as determined by the court.

Olga, an employee of the Minsk office of lawyer Yuri Zenkovich, was detained on April 12, 2021, as part of a criminal case initiated under the article “conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power.”

In early June 2022, the KGB completed its preliminary investigation, after which it became known that new charges had been brought against her. In September 2022, Olga was convicted of "active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order."

She was released in December 2022, having fully served her sentence as determined by the court.

Anastasia was convicted of, according to investigators, obstructing police actions during the arrest of a man in Lida on September 27, 2020, using violence: she tore off the shoulder strap of one officer and hit him in the head, and tore off the shoulder strap of the second.

She was released in March 2022 as part of a pardon.

Alina was detained on November 29, 2020 and taken to the Central District Police Department of Minsk for "participation in an unauthorized mass event." According to the charges, she threatened a police officer at the police department, tore off his mask, broke free, pushed, and bit him on the thigh. She was initially sentenced to 13 days of administrative arrest, but in December 2020, she was re-arrested as part of a criminal case and later convicted of "violence against a police officer."

She was released in October 2022, having fully served her sentence as determined by the court.

Mia was detained in January 2021 after being questioned by the Investigative Committee and later convicted under the article on “inciting hatred or discord” for expressing her opinion about the political situation in the country on the social network VKontakte.

She was released in October 2023, having fully served her sentence as determined by the court.

Activist and volunteer Olga was detained in March 2021. Physical violence was used against her at the time of her detention. She was convicted of participating in protests that took place in Minsk in 2020 against violence and the results of the presidential elections, as well as under the article on "creation of an extremist group or participation in it."

Olga was an election observer, volunteered near the Minsk detention center in Okrestina Lane, and later in the courts. She was detained several times during street protests and fined significant amounts.

In September 2024, Olga was released, having fully served her sentence imposed by the court.

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.