Former Security Officer Stands Trial in Minsk on ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Treason’ Charges
Reform.news Editorial Team · 25 September 2026, 14:52
https://reform.news/en/former-security-officer-stands-trial-in-minsk-on-terrorism-and-treason-charges/The Minsk Regional Court began hearing a criminal case in late September against Henrykh Aheyeu, Yuryi Vasileuski and Ivan Balashenka. According to information from the Viasna Human Rights Center, they are charged under nine articles of the Criminal Code, including “act of terrorism,” “participation in a terrorist organization” and “treason against the state.”
Depending on their alleged roles, the defendants face charges of intentionally rendering a vehicle or transport routes unusable, an act of terrorism, organizing the activities of a terrorist organization and participating in it, creating an organization to carry out terrorist activities or participating in it, treason against the state, incitement to hatred, illegal collection or dissemination of information about private life, illegal acts involving firearms, ammunition and explosives, as well as organizing or preparing acts that grossly violate public order or actively participating in them.
Thirty-two-year-old Henrykh Aheyeu is a former security officer from Brest Region. He was detained in February 2024 in Crimea, which is occupied by Russia. According to Viasna, he is involved in the “BYPOL case.” He allegedly traveled there on the instructions of former GUBOPiK officer and current representative of the BYPOL initiative Aliaksandr Azarau. Azarau himself denies involvement in Aheyeu’s trip to Crimea on his instructions. Aheyeu spent about seven months in an FSB detention center before being transferred to Belarus in September 2024 and placed in a KGB detention center. According to a former cellmate, Aheyeu spoke of beatings and torture while detained in Crimea.
Yuryi Vasileuski was detained in September 2025. He worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer at BNTU, and since 2017 had been listed in the register of forensic experts in the field of “forensic construction and technical examination.” Vasileuski was initially held in a KGB detention center and was transferred to Detention Center No. 1 in March 2026.
Human rights defenders have no information about Ivan Balashenka.
Details of the criminal case are also unknown.
