Musician and radio host Aleh Khamenka has been sentenced to three years in a general-regime penal colony and fined more than 20,000 rubles. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the verdict was announced on March 4 at the Minsk City Court.
The trial began on February 19, 2026 and continued over several hearings. Aleh Khamenka was found guilty under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code — “Facilitating extremist activity.” According to case materials, the charges were based on his long-term cooperation with the editorial team of Belarusian Radio Racyja.
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the criminal case was initiated specifically because of his cooperation with the radio station, as episodes of his music programs broadcast on Belarusian Radio Racyja were sent for expert examination.
Aleh Khamenka was detained in Minsk on June 17, 2025 after a search of his apartment. Initially he was placed in the Akrestsina detention center on administrative charges. In early July it became known that a criminal case had been opened, after which he was transferred to Detention Center No. 1 in Kalyadzichy.
Khamenka is known as a promoter of Belarusian music on radio. In the 2000s he created and hosted the program “Brama Isnascі” on Autoradio, and from the late 2000s he regularly cooperated with Belarusian Radio Racyja. His programs “Tuzin Hitou” and “Folk-Brama” were broadcast for many years until his detention.
Belarusian Radio Racyja is a radio station broadcasting around the clock in the Belarusian language in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania on FM frequencies and online. The editorial office has operated since 1999 and is located in Białystok. The station covers socio-political, economic and cultural events in Belarus and around the world.
In September 2021, access to the radio station’s website for users in Belarus was blocked by decision of the Information Ministry. On January 16, 2024, the KGB designated Belarusian Radio Racyja an extremist formation.
