{"id":493101,"date":"2025-10-24T10:25:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=493101"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:50:16","slug":"three-belarusian-women-sent-to-prison-in-neighborhood-chat-case-nasha-niva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/three-belarusian-women-sent-to-prison-in-neighborhood-chat-case-nasha-niva","title":{"rendered":"Three Belarusian Women Sent To Prison In “Neighborhood Chat” Case \u2014 Nasha Niva"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The names of three more Belarusian women sent to prison in the so-called \u201cneighborhood chat case\u201d have been revealed: Marina Petrozhitskaya<\/b>, Anastasiya Sikiritskaya<\/b>, and Anastasiya Gorchakova<\/b>, Nasha Niva reported.<\/p>\n

In July 2025, the women were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 800 base units each for \u201ccreating an extremist formation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marina Petrozhitskaya, 62, worked as deputy principal for educational affairs at Minsk Gymnasium No. 34, located near Orlovskaya Street opposite Kyiv Square. She graduated from the Belarusian State Pedagogical University (then the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute) in 1984 and taught mathematics for about 40 years.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, Petrozhitskaya was sentenced to 15 days in detention. Her home was searched, she was taken to the KGB, and later charged with \u201cdisobedience.\u201d It is unknown when she was dismissed from the school.<\/p>\n

She was arrested in October 2024. According to the Belarus Women Foundation, she was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 800 base units (33,600 rubles at the time of trial). She was convicted of \u201cparticipation in an extremist formation\u201d under Part 1, Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n

Anastasiya Gorchakova, 43, is from Minsk and has two underage children. She graduated from the Belarusian State Pedagogical University in 2006 and works as a photographer specializing in family and children\u2019s portraits.<\/p>\n

Anastasiya Sikiritskaya, 44, is also from Minsk. She is married and has two children.<\/p>\n

On October 29, 2024, the KGB declared the neighborhood coalition \u201cOrden\u201d an \u201cextremist formation.\u201d According to the agency, it included nine local chat groups, such as \u201cNavahrudak Partisans,\u201d \u201cAngry Claws,\u201d \u201cSukharevo,\u201d \u201cSenitsa 2.0,\u201d \u201cSolidarity,\u201d \u201cFree Wolves,\u201d \u201cViliya,\u201d \u201cModest Matryoshkas,\u201d and \u201cNeighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the announcement, mass arrests took place across the country. Dozens of people were charged under Article 357 (\u201cConspiracy or Other Acts Aimed at Seizing Power\u201d) and Article 361-1 (\u201cCreation or Participation in an Extremist Formation\u201d) of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n

According to human rights defenders, some of those involved are outside the country, while dozens remain in custody. Some were initially charged under Article 357, later reclassified to Article 361-1, while others face both charges. The first mass trials in the case began in July 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The names of three more Belarusian women sent to prison in the so-called \u201cneighborhood chat case\u201d have been revealed: Marina Petrozhitskaya, Anastasiya Sikiritskaya, and Anastasiya Gorchakova, Nasha Niva reported. In July 2025, the women were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 800 base units each for \u201ccreating an extremist formation.\u201d Marina Petrozhitskaya, 62, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":493100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68fb2fbcd2e66.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Three Belarusian Women Sent To Prison In «Neighborhood Chat» Case \u2014 Nasha Niva"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}