Since June 2025, 62-year-old Ukrainian citizen Natallia Batasheva has been held at the detention centre on Akrestsina in Minsk, the human rights centre Viasna reports. The woman was detained on June 23, 2025, in Vitsyebsk together with her husband while they were on the street and was immediately taken to Minsk. The whereabouts of her husband, who is believed to be named Viktar, remain unknown.
The information was provided to human rights defenders by a former cellmate of Natallia.
Natallia is originally from the Ukrainian city of Myrhorod and worked as a school accountant before her detention. According to the former cellmate, she travelled to Belarus in the summer of 2025 on personal business together with her Belarusian husband, a former serviceman who had lived and served in Ukraine for many years.
During a year in detention, no charges have been brought against the woman, she has not been allowed to meet with a lawyer, and she has been unable to contact her relatives. According to the former cellmate, Natallia has been subjected to psychological pressure and was placed in a punishment cell. When she attempted to pass on information so that her relatives in Myrhorod could be contacted, KGB officers reportedly visited and intimidated her.
The woman’s health has deteriorated significantly during her detention. In May, she suffered at least three severe episodes of tachycardia. She also experienced attacks of cardiac cough in the mornings and severe inflammation of the submandibular lymph nodes. According to the account, she has not received adequate medical care and is only occasionally given whatever medication is available.
Security officers confiscated $1,200 from the woman to cover the costs of her detention, promising that she would be deported to Ukraine. As she has no relatives in Belarus, she has received only about two care packages over the course of the year. Fellow detainees have helped her with hygiene products and clothing. The cell, measuring about 24 square metres, is designed for five people, but at times held as many as 12 women, some of whom slept on the floor.
