It’s not only criminalised to express any form of dissent in Belarus. Showing solidarity with political prisoners is also punishable, even when it comes from their parents.

In the following three examples, you will learn how this form of repression looks like in the case of anarchists.

Arresting relatives to put pressure on exiled activists

On 26 November 2021, armed police raided the home of Gayane Akhtiyan, the mother of exiled anarchist Roman Halilov. The woman was filmed standing on her knees and then allegedly admitting to participation in protests. The video was circulated by cops in a Telegram channel named Anarchists of Belarus with a caption “Parents held responsible for their children” with a clear intention to put pressure on Roman Halilov.

Gayane was put in detention and later sentenced to restricted freedom in an open-type facility. She eventually left Belarus.

Convicting relatives for supporting their imprisoned sons

Tatiana Frantskevich is the mother of Aleksandr Frantskevich who is sentenced to 18 years of prison as a leader of an “international anarchist criminal organisation”. On 19 July 2024, she and her sister were detained and later sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison for “aiding extremist activity”.

Currently, nobody can support Aleksandr as only close relatives are allowed to send care packages, make visits and exchange correspondence with prisoners in Belarus.

Putting relatives on international wanted list

In October 2025, the wanted persons list maintained by the Russian Federation was updated to include Anastasia Yemelyanova, the mother of Nikita Yemelyanov, an anarchist who has been in prison since 2019 and whose original sentence has been prolonged twice.

Nikita’s mother now also lives in exile.

These cases are not isolated episodes and this type of pressure is not only applied to anarchists. Five years after the 2020 uprising, Belarus still keeps thousands of people in prison and convicts a hundred more every month.

Support imprisoned Belarusian anarchists by donating to ABC-Belarus https://abc-belarus.org/donate