The Viasna Human Rights Centre reported that at least 159 people in Belarus have been convicted for transferring money to solidarity funds and other initiatives designated by the authorities as “extremist” or “terrorist”. According to human rights defenders, those convicted include 26 IT specialists and 33 women.
A total of 44 people were convicted for donations supporting Ukraine. Forty-six political prisoners convicted over donations have since been pardoned. However, hundreds of Belarusians, facing the threat of criminal prosecution, were reportedly forced to make informal payments many times larger than the original donations in order to avoid criminal cases.
Among the recent convictions is the case of IT specialist Pavel Kaberda, who was sentenced to five years in a penal colony and fined for making around ten donations ranging from €10 to €50 to the BYSOL, BY_help and BYPOL funds. In early May, Dzmitry Novikau received a five-year prison sentence. The charges were based on two small cryptocurrency transfers intended for humanitarian assistance to Belarusian volunteers serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Dzmitry Kasenka, who was convicted over a donation in 2025, is serving the same five-year sentence in Penal Colony No. 22.
The longest prison terms imposed for donations have been nine years. Such sentences were handed down to five people, including IT specialist Aliaksandr Ziyazetdzinau, clothing store owner Artur Rolich, IT specialist Kiryl Kroshkin, 25-year-old Uladzimir Lazarevich, and Minsk hospital employee Iryna Rashkevich. Ziyazetdzinau was initially sentenced to three years in prison for transferring 0.2 ether to a BYPOL cryptocurrency wallet, but prosecutors later added a charge of financing terrorism, increasing his sentence to nine years.
The longest overall sentence, nine and a half years in a penal colony, was imposed on massage therapist and coach Mikalai Vasilevich. He was tried twice and was ultimately accused of making 54 donations to various funds.
Among the women convicted over donations are Kseniya Khоdyrаva (five years), Alina Khmialeuskaya (five and a half years), and EPAM IT specialist Maryna Leanovich (five years). Leanovich has a psychiatric diagnosis, which human rights defenders say makes her imprisonment particularly difficult. In total, 33 women have been convicted over donations in Belarus. Nine of them remain in custody.
