After his release from prison, Alexei faced a new challenge: he has been unable to find work, while at home his mother is battling advanced cancer and requires constant care.
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Katya Bartko applied for asylum in the United States because of political persecution in Belarus. As a result of a wrongful arrest, she ended up in an immigration detention centre, without the life-saving medication she needs, and came within a hair's breadth of death. Her partner Dmitry is asking for help to free her from detention with the assistance of lawyers and prevent her deportation to Belarus.
Nikita Zolotarev was arrested at the age of 16, after which he ended up in intensive care and then in a remand centre. He spent almost six years behind bars in a juvenile correctional facility and prison, where he was beaten, tortured, and denied the necessary medication for epilepsy. In March 2026, Nikita was forcibly deported from the country to Lithuania.
Larisa, a former correspondent for Belsat, is now a former political prisoner and an ethnographic photographer. In 2025, she was deported from Belarus to Lithuania three months before her release. She is waiting for international protection in Poland; due to the Dublin procedure, her case has been delayed, and she needs support during this period.
After taking part in the 2020 protests, Alexander was sentenced to three years of confinement in an open correctional facility. He appealed the sentence and, while waiting for the appeal to be heard, left for Georgia to avoid imprisonment. He lived and worked there for five years until problems with his documents led to his deportation. Now he urgently needs support.
Elena Fomina lives in Poland with her son. Although he is now an adult, he has had a disability since childhood and requires constant care. Elena has lost her stable job, takes on occasional work, and looks after her son full-time. She needs support to continue his treatment, keep their home, and overcome their financial crisis.
Elena Meshcheryakova nearly died from COVID, survived repression by law enforcers, and was forced to leave the country. When Russia attacked Ukraine, she became a volunteer, but now she needs help herself.
My name is Yury Averkov. I am 54 years old. I am a former political prisoner, and I now live in Warsaw. I never prepared for exile or imagined that I would have to start my life over in another country. I was simply forced out of Belarus without my belongings or any money. With my long list of health conditions, I have been unable to find work and am now asking for support.
Anna is 50 years old. She was an associate professor, headed a university department, and worked on projects aimed at making Belarusian cities better. But in 2023, she was arrested when she returned home to visit her mother.