Oleg Vladimirovich Khoroshko

After his arrest, he was convicted under an administrative offense and has not been released since. He is currently in pretrial detention, charged for comments he made on social media.

Before his arrest, he lived and worked in Europe.

The reason for the detention of Gomel resident Vilen Turgunov was comments on the Internet, including negative ones towards the police.

Vilen Turgunov is 55 years old. His father is from Uzbekistan, his mother is Belarusian. Vilen graduated from the university in Russian Novozybkov (Bryansk region) with a degree in jurisprudence. Vilen Turgunov worked at the Zheleznodorozhny District Department of Internal Affairs of the regional center. There were serious problems there. Back in 2001, he received a reprimand for “irresponsible attitude to service,” in 2002 he had “incomplete official inconsistency,” and in 2004 he received a reprimand for “gross violation of official discipline, violation of an order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Later, the former policeman worked at a construction and installation trust in Gomel.

The detainee actively maintained pages on various social networks, where he spoke about political and social events. For his support of Ukraine, other netizens called him a “Banderite.”

Vilen Turgunov’s relative, Igor Kazubov, is also serving a sentence.

Alexander worked as an engineer at one of the city's enterprises. He was convicted behind closed doors in the Gomel Regional Court.

On 02.08.2024, the appeal was heard and the verdict came into force.

On May 31, 2024, the appeal was considered and the verdict came into force.

The essence of the accusation is still unknown to human rights activists.

The trial, which lasted from February 9, found Degterenko guilty of “joining an extremist formation” and under Part 3 of Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code, he was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of three years.

He was also found guilty of “providing funds by any means for the purpose of use in terrorist activities, material support and other support” by a person who had previously committed a crime under Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code, and according to Part 2 of Art. 290-1 of the Criminal Code (as amended by the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated January 09, 2019 No. 171-Z), he was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 8 years with a fine of 100 basic units.

By partial addition of the sentences, the accused was finally sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 8 years 6 months.

On May 10, 2024, the appeal was considered and the verdict came into force.

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.

According to pro-government telegram channels, four people were detained - they are called a "sleeper cell of extremists" who had "external connections" with Belarusian volunteers fighting in Ukraine. Among them is Dmitry.

All of them are from Gomel and, judging by their posts on social networks, have been friends for a long time, participating together in an international game of Beer Pong in Gomel. After the brutal detention , the friends were forced to record a “repentance video” and say that they created a chat where they corresponded with each other, and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they allegedly insulted Lukashenko several times in correspondence, and also wrote “wrong” comments. Another accusation is that the guys “had external connections” with Belarusian volunteers who are fighting for Ukraine. Apparently, this was the basis for initiating a criminal case under the article “promoting extremist activities.”

On May 10, 2024, the appeal was considered and the verdict entered into force.

Oleg, the owner of the YouTube channel "Third Region Belarus," was detained in January 2022 when he returned to Belarus for the New Year holidays.

Oleg was accused of de-anonymizing security officials and, while abroad, allegedly continuing to "post anti-state information on social media and promote resistance to government officials." On his channel, he published videos of Belarusian solidarity protests in Kyiv, where he had lived since 2020. He was also accused of making "cynical comments" about deceased KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk.

In September 2022, he was convicted under several articles of the Criminal Code, including "inciting racial, national, religious, or other social hatred or discord." The court sentenced him to imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony and ordered him to pay substantial compensation.

In July 2023, Oleg was convicted again of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the prison administration"—a charge often applied to political prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the prison administration. In September of that year, it was reported that he had been transferred to a prison regime.

It was revealed that Oleg faced another court hearing in the first half of summer 2025 under the same charge of "insubordination." The appeal hearing was scheduled for mid-July.

Ekaterina, a journalist for the Belsat TV channel, was reporting live from the courtyard of the Square of Change, where peaceful protesters gathered for a protest rally in Minsk on November 15, 2020, under the slogan "I'm coming out." These were the last words of Raman Bondarenko, who was killed by security forces, and those gathered came to honor his memory. Ekaterina was detained along with her colleague Darya Chultsova during the violent dispersal of the rally and was later convicted of "participating in group actions that grossly violate public order."

In April 2022, a new criminal case was opened against Ekaterina, and in July of the same year she was convicted again, accused of “treason” and sentenced to eight years in prison three months before the end of her first sentence.