Андрей Поколенко и Владимир Янукевич. Коллаж: БАЖ
Media managers Uladzimir Yanukevich and Andrei Pakalenka have been recognized as political prisoners, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.
On February 26, the Brest Regional Court sentenced Yanukevich to 14 years in a penal colony and Pakalenka to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of high treason. Both were also fined large sums. The trial was held behind closed doors.
Sixty-five-year-old Yanukevich was director and editor-in-chief of the largest independent regional newspaper, Intex-Press. Forty-four-year-old Andrey Pakalenka served as deputy director for development. After the liquidation of the newspaper, they, together with their team, created the news website BAR24.
In December 2024, BAR24 staff members were detained, searches were conducted at the editorial office and in their apartments, and equipment was seized. Criminal cases were opened against six detainees under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (“Facilitation of extremist activity”). Four BAR24 employees — Natallia Siamenovich, Nikita Piatrouski, Ruslan Raviako and Liudmila Zialionkava — were sentenced to restricted freedom without imprisonment (“home chemistry”) and in November 2025 were added to the “extremists” list.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists notes that the criminal prosecution of Yanukevich and Pakalenka is a continuation of repression against Intex-Press and BAR24 and, more broadly, against independent Belarusian media and journalists, and is aimed at ending the public activities of Yanukevich and Pakalenka in the non-violent exercise of freedom of expression and dissemination of information.