Political prisoner and journalist Dzianis Ivashyn has been transferred from Zhodzina Prison to Penal Colony No. 15 in Mahilyou. He was moved there on June 18, his wife Volha Ivashyna said on the journalist’s Telegram channel.
Ivashyn’s relatives received a letter from the colony informing them that he will become eligible for parole in February 2030, while the remaining part of his sentence may be replaced with a lighter punishment after January 2029. The letter notes that parole is available to inmates who “have demonstrated their rehabilitation,” while a reduced sentence may be granted to those who “have firmly embarked on the path of rehabilitation.”
The journalist’s relatives were also advised to correspond with him in Russian rather than Belarusian. According to Volha Ivashyn, this recommendation first appeared in a chat for relatives of political prisoners held at Penal Colony No. 15 and was later repeated to her in private messages.
Dzianis Ivashyn is a journalist from Hrodna known for his investigations into the influence of the “Russian World” ideology in Belarus and Syria, controversial development projects at Kurapaty, and former members of Ukraine’s Berkut riot police who joined Belarusian security agencies.
In 2022, he was sentenced to 13 years and one month in a high-security penal colony on charges of interfering with the activities of a police officer and treason. Since June 2023, he had been held in Zhodzina Prison.
