Dmitry "Zmitser" Vyachaslavavich Dashkevich is a Belarusian politician and former leader of the unregistered youth opposition movement Young Front.
The government of Belarus is criticized for its human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. In a testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality". During 2020 Belarusian presidential election and protests, the number of political prisoners recognized by Viasna Human Rights Centre rose dramatically to 1062 as of 16 February 2022. Several people died after the use of unlawful and abusive force by law enforcement officials during 2020 protests. According to Amnesty International, the authorities did not investigate violations during protests, but instead harassed those who challenged their version of events. In July 2021, the authorities launched a campaign against the remaining non-governmental organizations, liquidating at least 270 of them by October, including all previously registered human rights organizations in the country.
The Minsk Detention Center No. 1 or SIZO No. 1, informally known as Volodarka, Belarusian pronunciation: Valadarka (Валадарка), is the central prison of the Republic of Belarus located in Minsk.
MikolaViktaravich Statkevich is a Belarusian lieutenant colonel, politician, and opposition leader who was a presidential candidate at the 2010 Belarusian presidential election. Since 31 May 2020 he is held in prison by Belarusian authorities. Viasna Human Rights Centre recognized him as a political prisoner. On 14 December 2021, Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Azimzhan Askarov was a Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. Of ethnic Uzbek descent, during the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.
The Homo Homini Award is given annually by the Czech human rights organization People in Need to "an individual in recognition of a dedication to the promotion of human rights, democracy and non-violent solutions to political conflicts". The award is presented at the One World Film Festival, the world's largest human rights film festival.
The Viasna Human Rights Centre is a human rights organization based in Minsk, Belarus. The organization aims to provide financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families, and was founded in 1996 by activist Ales Bialatski in response to large-scale repression of demonstrations by the government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Ales Viktaravich Bialiatski is a Russian-born Belarusian pro-democracy activist and prisoner of conscience known for his work with the Viasna Human Rights Centre. An activist for Belarusian independence and democracy since the early 1980s, Bialiatski is a founding member of Viasna and the Belarusian Popular Front, serving as leader of the latter from 1996 to 1999. He is also a member of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition. He has been called "a pillar of the human rights movement in Eastern Europe" by The New York Times, and recognised as a prominent pro-democracy activist in Belarus.
Mikalay Autukhovich is a Belarusian businessman and political dissident who has twice been imprisoned by the government of Belarus. Belarusian courts have found him guilty of tax evasion and terrorism, but international human rights organization Amnesty International has stated that he is a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for peaceful protest.
Phạm Đoan Trang is a Vietnamese author, blogger, journalist, publisher, and democracy activist. She received the 2017 Homo Homini Award from People In Need, who called her "one of the leading figures of the contemporary Vietnamese dissent". In 2024, she is in prison after being convicted of “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky, also transliterated as Syarhey Leanidavich Tsikhanouski, is a Belarusian YouTuber, video blogger, dissident and pro-democracy activist. He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience. He is known primarily for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the 2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election.
Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian professional flautist and political activist. In 2020, she headed Viktar Babaryka's electoral campaign during presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus. Kalesnikava represented the united campaign of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then she became a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020 Belarusian protests in opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. She is also a founder of the 'Razam' political party.
Mikola Dziadok is a Belarusian journalist, anarchist activist, blogger, and political prisoner. He was released in 2015 and became in involved in the 2020 Belarusian protests. He was arrested by authorities and is currently again a political prisoner. On November 10, 2021, Dziadok was sentenced to five years in a general-security penal colony and is held in Prison Number 8.
Katsiaryna Anatolewna Barysevich is a Belarusian journalist. She is a staff correspondent for the independent news site Tut.By. She has worked for European Radio for Belarus and other media. She reported on the death of Raman Bandarenka in 2020. She was arrested on November 19, 2020, in Minsk.
Ihar Alyaksandravich Losik is a Belarusian blogger and consultant of the Belarusian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Since June 25, 2020 he has been held in prison by Belarusian authorities. Viasna Human Rights Centre and Amnesty International recognize him as a political prisoner.
Roman Dmitriyevich Protasevich or Raman Dzmitryevich Pratasevich is a Belarusian blogger and political activist. He was the editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel Nexta and chief editor of the Telegram channel Belarus of the Brain.
On 7 April 2022, Pavel Alexandrovich Pernikaŭ, a 30-year-old Belarusian human rights activist and Wikipedia editor, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for "discrediting the Republic of Belarus" by making two edits to Wikipedia about political repression in Belarus and posting one article to the website of a human rights organization about torture and extra-judicial killings in Belarusian detention centers. Days after his imprisonment, he was recognized as a political prisoner by Belarusian human rights organizations.
Gennady Nikolayevich Mozheyko is a Belarusian journalist and political prisoner. On 1 October 2021 he was detained in connection with his professional activities. Belarusian and Russian journalists and human rights activists called for his release. In March 2023 he was sentenced to three years in penal colony.
Leanid Sudalenka is a Belarusian human rights activist and chairman of the Gomel branch of the human rights organisation Viasna. In January 2021, he was arrested for allegedly organising protests held in Gomel following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election; on 3 November 2021 he was sentenced to serve three years in a penal colony. A number of Belarusian and international human rights organisations have declared Sudalenka as being a prisoner of conscience, and in 2021 he was one of four Belarusian human rights activists to be jointly awarded the Homo Homini Award.
Ihar Aleksandrovich Lednik was a Belarusian opposition activist and political prisoner. In 2022, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the "defamation" of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in an article in the newspaper of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (BSDP). His health severely deteriorated while he was in prison and he died in custody after undergoing surgery for an issue involving his gastrointestinal tract.
