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Two environmentalists get lengthy prison terms
July 27, Pozirk. Environmentalists Hleb Hierasimovič and Alaksandar Milkamanovič have been sentenced to six years in prison each, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported on Monday.
Hierasimovič and Milkamanovič were initially charged with facilitating “extremism” but eventually convicted of involvement with an “extremist organization,” probably an environmental coalition called Green Network.
They were also ordered to pay 22,500 rubels ($7,800) each in fines.
No other details were available.
On July 30, 2025, the Committee for State Security (KGB) designated Green Network as an “extremist organization.” The KGB listed the Green Network’s Instagram and Telegram accounts, as well as the Ecodom Telegram channel, the Ecochat chat, the Belarus Beehive bot and the belarusbeehive.eu website as the group’s media.
The KGB identified Hleb Hierasimovič, Alaksandar Milkamanovič, Natalla Hierasimava and Jarasłaŭ Biekiš as individuals involved in the project.
Biekiš, a religious scholar, holds Master’s degree in political science from European Humanities University. He worked as a coordinator of the Green Network grassroots organizations and EuroBelarus board member. Besides, he was a member of the second Coordination Council.
Hierasimovič and Milkamanovič were involved in startups related to environmental projects in Minsk.
The Green Network is a partnership of environmental organizations and activists in Belarus, including experts, volunteers and initiative groups, aiming to “make Belarus a green, democratic and prosperous country.”
The Green Network reportedly implements programs and projects in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development, supports green activists and “monitors and evaluates the activities of actors influencing the environmental and public agenda.”
Last month Ecodom reported that more than 80 environmental organizations had been dissolved in Belarus since 2021 as part of the Łukašenka regime’s crackdown on civil society. Sixty other organizations suspended their operation on their own initiative under pressure from authorities.
