{"id":496185,"date":"2025-11-12T18:57:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T15:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=496185"},"modified":"2025-11-12T19:34:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:34:24","slug":"at-least-35-people-convicted-in-courtyard-chats-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/at-least-35-people-convicted-in-courtyard-chats-case","title":{"rendered":"At Least 35 People Convicted in \u201cCourtyard Chats\u201d Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 35 people from Smarhon, Navahrudak, Va\u016dkavysk, and other cities have been convicted in the so-called \u201ccourtyard chats\u201d case, according to the human rights center Viasna. At least 33 political prisoners in the case remain behind bars, including 25 women. Among them are elderly women, those with serious illnesses, and some with underage children. Several defendants have left the country.<\/p>\n

On October 14, the Hrodna Regional Court announced verdicts for seven residents of Smarhon. All but one woman, who has cancer, were sentenced to two and a half years in prison and fined 800 base units (33,600 Belarusian rubles). Participants of the closed Telegram chat \u201cVILIYA\u201d were found guilty of \u201cparticipation in an extremist formation.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of October, the same court sentenced nine residents of Va\u016dkavysk for participating in the local Telegram chat \u201cVolnyya Va\u016dki.\u201d Six women and three men were charged with \u201cparticipation in an extremist formation\u201d and sentenced to prison terms and fines of 800 base units each.<\/p>\n

On October 21, the Hrodna Regional Court announced verdicts for five political prisoners for participating in the Telegram chat \u201cPartyzany Navahrudku.\u201d They were convicted under the same article and sentenced to two and a half years in prison each, along with fines of 800 base units.<\/p>\n

A 63-year-old woman, Iryna Kishkurna<\/b>, was also sentenced to two years in prison and fined 1,000 base units in connection with the \u201ccourtyard chats\u201d case.
\nIn the Minsk Regional Court, Anastasiya Harchakova<\/b>, Anastasiya Sikirytskaya<\/b>, and Marina Petrazhytskaya<\/b> were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 800 base units each.<\/p>\n

According to the prosecution, the coalition of courtyard chats known as \u201cOrden\u201d allegedly aimed to \u201cseize power in Belarus unconstitutionally\u201d and to \u201cinfluence mass public consciousness.\u201d It was claimed that chat participants were engaged in \u201cundermining the country\u2019s information sovereignty,\u201d fostering protest sentiment, and creating divisions within society between supporters and opponents of the government.<\/p>\n

Investigators described the chats as \u201cunderground communities\u201d with \u201cinformal leaders\u201d among their most active members.
\nThe defendants were accused of participating in educational programs such as \u201cPaCHATak,\u201d \u201cHUB 9,\u201d \u201cNation of Leaders,\u201d and the \u201cOpen University of Freedom.\u201d In effect, any form of educational or civic activity abroad was interpreted as \u201cpreparation for a change of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities regarded such training as \u201cpreparation for regime change,\u201d arguing that participants could use their acquired knowledge to run for parliament or join public associations in the future.<\/p>\n

Moreover, charges were brought not only for actions but also for inaction. Investigators claimed that participants were waiting for the so-called \u201cDay X\u201d \u2014 the moment of a change of power, including the possible natural death of Lukashenka \u2014 without taking active steps.<\/p>\n

It was revealed that some detained participants had been under surveillance for almost a year. The case materials included dozens of recorded Zoom conferences, phone calls, and online meetings that investigators said indicated \u201cplanning of coordinated activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

A separate part of the indictment concerned links between the defendants and the Lithuanian organization *Gero kaimyno agent\u016bra, V\u0161\u012e* (\u201cGood Neighbor Agency\u201d). According to investigators, it allegedly coordinated and trained Belarusian activists, assisted them with visas and participation in international events, and helped with fundraising and project training.<\/p>\n

On October 24, the Supreme Court of Belarus declared *Gero kaimyno agent\u016bra* an \u201cextremist organization.\u201d The entity is officially registered in Lithuania, but its activities are now banned in Belarus.<\/p>\n

Arrests in the \u201ccourtyard chats\u201d case took place across Belarus in the autumn of last year. According to the prosecution, chat participants \u201cattempted to unite into an organization with the goal of seizing power.\u201d The KGB designated the courtyard coalition \u201cOrden\u201d as an \u201cextremist formation,\u201d which includes the chats \u201cZlyya Kohtiki,\u201d \u201cSukhareva,\u201d \u201cSenitsa 2.0,\u201d \u201cSolidarnasc,\u201d \u201cVolnyya Va\u016dki,\u201d \u201cPartyzany Navahrudku,\u201d \u201cVILIYA,\u201d \u201cSkromnyya Matryoshki,\u201d and \u201cSusedzi.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the agency, those linked to these initiatives include Iryna Yakauleva<\/b>, Natallia Doronina<\/b>, Dziyana Haurylava<\/b>, Ukrainian citizen Ivan Omelian<\/b>, Volha Nekhaychyk<\/b>, Kanstantsin Kirylenka<\/b>, Lizaveta Plytnik<\/b>, Natallia Huzhova<\/b>, Iryna Smaliarova<\/b>, Stanislau Botvin<\/b>, and Natallia Lantukh<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people have been charged under Articles 357 (\u201cConspiracy or other actions aimed at seizing state power\u201d) and 361-1 (\u201cCreation of or participation in an extremist formation\u201d) of the Criminal Code. For some defendants, the initial charges of \u201cconspiracy\u201d were later reclassified as \u201cparticipation in a formation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 35 people from Smarhon, Navahrudak, Va\u016dkavysk, and other cities have been convicted in the so-called \u201ccourtyard chats\u201d case, according to the human rights center Viasna. At least 33 political prisoners in the case remain behind bars, including 25 women. Among them are elderly women, those with serious illnesses, and some with underage children. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":496184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/6914b717192e9.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"At Least 35 People Convicted in \u201cCourtyard Chats\u201d Case"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496185","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\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}