A photographer from Mozyr, Alexei Kaidash, has been sentenced to three years in a high-security penal colony under the article on facilitating “extremist activity” (Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code). The charges are likely related to the “Hajun case,” according to Homielskaya Viasna.
Kaidash was detained in February 2025. He was initially arrested for 15 days under an administrative case for distributing “extremist materials,” after which a criminal case was opened.
The sentence was handed down a few days ago. The details of the charges remain unknown.
Kaidash worked as a professional photographer, specializing in wedding, children’s, and portrait photography, as well as portfolios and images for menus and catalogs.
“Belarusian Hajun Project” is a monitoring OSINT project tracking military activity by Russian and Belarusian forces. The monitoring group was created before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war by activist Anton Motolko. In early February 2025, law enforcement gained access to the project’s bot chat, after which the project announced it was ceasing operations.