In September, the following women were recognized as political prisoners: Nadzeya Staravoitava, Volha Novikava, Safiya Bahavets, Hanna Skryhan, Zhanna Volkava, Veranika Nikolkina, Volha Brytsikava, Sniazhana Amosava, Sviatlana Karol, and Anzhela Sikorskaya. 

Alina Kryvashei (Horava) was sentenced to one and a half years of restricted freedom under home confinement for participating in peaceful protest rallies in 2020. This was her second trial in six months; earlier, she had already been sentenced to one year of home confinement. 

Alesia Fryhina was sentenced to one and a half years of restricted freedom under home confinement for participating in peaceful protest rallies in Belarus in 2020. 

A resident of Mahiliou was detained and fined for having her nails painted in the white-red-white colors of Belarus’ national flag. The police considered this “forbidden symbols”. 

In Dziarzhynsk, a town in Minsk region, a chief accountant of a local company was detained on charges of “sharing extremist materials” after the police inspected her social media page following an anonymous report and found reposts from a Telegram channel recognized as “extremist”. 

A resident of Minsk was detained for “offensive comments about Russians”. The Lukashenka regime continues to persecute Belarusians for their anti-war activities, including on social media. 

Yauheniya Savastseyeva was sentenced to three years of restricted freedom under home confinement for protesting against the rigged presidential election in Belarus in 2020. She was identified from a picture shared in a Telegram channel. 

Hanna Hulak was sentenced to three years of restricted freedom under home confinement for participating in peaceful protest rallies in 2020. 

Katsiaryna Batura was released after a year and a half of restricted freedom in an open penal facility. Ms. Batura had been convicted of “insulting” Lukashenka after sharing an “insulting” video address on the social network VKontakte. 

Tatsiana Pabiarezhnaya was fined 30 base values (about 320 euros) for following online resources recognized as “extremist materials”. 

Dancer and entrepreneur Viktoryia Haurylina was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for “financing extremist activities, tax evasion, and illegal actions with respect to information about private life and personal data”. 

Activist Sviatlana Karol, who promoted a bicycle-friendly city environment in Homiel, was detained and charged with “slander” against Lukashenka. Ms. Karol has an elderly mother and a husband who suffers from cancer. 

Aliaksandra Kasko, who had been detained upon returning from Poland to Belarus, was charged with crimes committed under eight articles of the Criminal Code. 

Psychologist Alesia Liantsevich was sentenced to three years in prison, despite possibly having a serious illness. Ms. Liantsevich was accused of “insulting a representative of the authorities” and “financing the activities of an extremist formation”. She had donated about 90 euros to fundraisers or democratic organizations. 

Sviatlana Bakanava was sentenced to one year in prison for “insulting Lukashenka”. 

Tatsiana Pytsko was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it”. Ms. Pytsko’s husband was also sentenced to five years in prison. The couple has a one-year-old daughter, who, after their arrest, was placed in a hospital until guardianship was established, and then handed over to her grandmother. 

Volha Stabrouskaya, 63, was sentenced to fifteen months in prison despite her disability. 

A group of people who participated together in a peaceful protest march in 2020 were convicted in Minsk. They all were sentenced to restricted freedom under home confinement: Maryia Valadkovich to two years and three months, Aliaksandra Belich to two years, and Halina Harodka to two years. 

Iryna Mazharskaya was sentenced to three years of restricted freedom under home confinement for participating in peaceful protest rallies in 2020.