Authorities are attempting to recover 258 rubles and 50 kopecks from journalist Ihar Karnei, who was released and expelled from Belarus in June 2025. It is неизвестно what exactly he is required to pay this amount for. Karnei wrote about the situation on Facebook.
According to him, bailiff Kozlovskaya is sending him financial claims. Karnei replies via Viber that he cannot appear in court because he has been expelled from the country, but no one responds to his messages.
The journalist does not know what the payment is for, but assumes it may be for prison clothing.
“Why they charged 258.50 rubles is a mystery of nature. At least this time they attached a payment slip. At the end of last year, it was just a piece of paper with a threat that if I ignored the summons, I could be ‘subject to compulsory appearance’. That’s when our virtual Tinder started spinning — except without reciprocity). Because I haven’t been home for almost three years, and in their black lists I am apparently still listed as ‘from Sukharava’.
Without much hope for understanding, I again asked the curator to clearly explain what I supposedly owe — I’m not going to give money to the first passer-by. Otherwise, they might get used to it and put regular payments on a conveyor belt). I assume that prison fashion designers valued their strict-style outfits at this amount — perhaps retroactively for my stay in Shklou. After being transferred to repeat offenders in Penal Colony No. 20, I only received a summer shirt — it is unlikely that, despite all its exclusivity, it would cost 80 euros,” he wrote.
Karnei also said he cannot withdraw about 500 rubles from his prison account that remained there after his release. He would like this money to be returned to the sender — his mother. Karnei tried to contact the head of the Mazyr colony but received no response, while a lawyer said he could come to the colony in person and collect the money with his passport.
In autumn 2025, authorities demanded that Karnei pay 63 rubles for services received at Minsk’s Detention Centre No. 1 on Valadarskaha Street. In the notice sent to his Minsk address, the journalist was threatened with compulsory appearance if he failed to comply.
Journalist of “Radio Svaboda” Ihar Karnei was detained in July 2023 and in March 2024 was sentenced to three years in prison under a charge of participation in an extremist formation. According to the обвинение, he cooperated with BAJ, recognised as an “extremist formation,” and in his materials allegedly “gave a false impression of the economic, social, military and international situation of the Republic of Belarus”. He was later sentenced to an additional eight months in prison for malicious disobedience to the requirements of the colony administration (Part 1 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code). Karnei was released and forcibly taken to Lithuania in June 2025.
