Мария Мисюк. Фото: t.me/Koord_shtab
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has added 37 more people to the “List of Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, Foreign Citizens or Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activities”.
Among those added is Ukrainian citizen Maria Misiuk, a former political prisoner who was released under a “pardon” in November last year together with 30 other Ukrainian citizens.
Misiuk, who was a minor at the time, was detained in March 2024. On 29 April 2024, state television aired a propaganda film titled “Children in the Crosshairs. Recruited by the Enemy”, which reported the detention of seven teenagers for alleged “cooperation with Ukrainian special services”. Some of them were accused of an “act of terrorism” and “treason”.
The film claimed that six teenagers had allegedly formed an “anarchist cell Black Nightingales”, which was said to have been created “under the leadership of the National Liberation Army of Ukraine” by 16-year-old Ukrainian citizen Maria Misiuk. She was sentenced to 13 years in a general-regime penal colony under Article 289 of the Criminal Code — Act of Terrorism.
The list now contains 6,298 names.
Belarusian authorities regularly use extremism charges to suppress political opponents and dissent more broadly.