According to Viasna Human Rights Organization, as of today there are more then 580 persons are considered political prisoners and remain in jail.There is a common picture of all athletes, who gathered to fight for truth and justice in Belarus. They created an Open Letter of Free association of athletes of Belarus that was already signed by more than 2000 belarussian athlets. Also they founded @sos_by_2020 and @bssf.team that helps repressed athletes to keep their trainings. Many of them sold their the most precious awards in auctions and donate money to the fund. These wonderful people constantly organize creative iniciatives as #MarathonForFreadom , #ZOZHteam , different challenges and keeping support Belarussian people and batter the regime!
Aleksandr Vakhovyak and Dmitry Shershan were expelled from the Belarusian national judo team and also “on the urgent recommendation of the Ministry of Sports” were fired from their place of service.
Siamion Bukin, former artist of Cirque du Soleil, master of sports in gymnastics. On November 8, he was illegally detained at a protest march and sentenced to 15 days. After his release, he decided to leave the country, as he received information about the possibility of another detention. Siamion was a delegate of the expanded composition of the Coordination Council, created on the initiative of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya with the aim of organizing the process of overcoming the political crisis and ensuring harmony in society, as well as to protect the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Belarus.
Olga Barabanshikova and Natalia Zvereva, tennis. Natalya Zvereva auctioned off the "WTA 1988 Rookie of the Year" award.
The proceeds went to the BSSF to support repressed athletes and their families.
Handball club Vitiaz Leon. On October 1, the Belarusian Handball Federation removed the Vityaz-Leon handball club from the championship and the Cup of Belarus. On September 30, because of the arrest of the basketball player Elena Levchenko the Vityaz-Leon club announced that they would not play: "The Vityaz handball club considers the arrest of Yelena Levchenko illegal. In this regard, we have no moral right to play today."
Stepan Popov, sambo. A world and European champion, winner of the 1st European Games. In 2015, he received the Fair Play award, because at the European Games, Stepan carried on his shoulders his opponent, an injured Azerbaijani athlete, to the locker room. In 2020, Stepan was dismissed from the Republican Center for Olympic Training "Staiki".
On March 23, Ekaterina Snytsina, the captain of the Belarusian basketball team, who played a key role in reaching the finals of EuroBasket 2021, announced her retirement from the national team. She explained her decision as follows:“I no longer want to represent Belarus on the international arena while my people are suffering, being tortured and repressed, when people are being killed, maimed and held in prisons with impunity. No matter how many officials claim that sport is out of politics, in our country sport is the propaganda of the regime, and I do not intend to be a part of it."
Before Ekaterina Snytina auctioned off her bronze medal won at the 2007 European Championship to support BSSF.
Pavel Sankovich, swimmer. Currentlz living and working in Florida. On February 16, on the GoFundMe platform, he initiated a fundraiser in support of Belarusian athletes who suffered for expressing their civic position.
Nadezhda Ostapchuk, bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Beijing in shot put, world and European champion auctioned a gold medal of the 2005 European Indoor Championships for BSSF. Earlier she put up for sale her "competitive" core, which set her personal record and the record of Belarus - 21.70 m.
Brothers Egor and Nikita Meshcheryakovy, bascketball players. While Egor Meshcheryakov, the Deputy Head of the Belarusian Basketball Federation, was taking part in protest marches, his collegue the chairman of BBF Maxim Ryzhenkov participated in a pro-government rally an the same street.
Melitina Staniouta / Natalia Leshchyk, gymnastics. Melitina led a heading in the program on the state TV. However, after she criticized the arbitrary detentions near the Symbal.by store, the channel suspended cooperation with her until the fall. As a result, the athlete herself quit.
Football club "Krumkachy". It is probably the only one professional football club who didn't afraid oficcially proclaming his position - the players of "Krumkachy" went to the match with "Chemist" in T-shirts with the words "We support people!". Later football players Sergei Kozeka and Pavel Rassolko were detained during a protest in Minsk. The players were beaten during the arrest, and at night Kozeka was taken by an ambulance from the police department in handcuffs and under escort - he had a fracture of the third vertebrae, as well as kidney damage.Some players from other teams also declared their political position, but it was never a whole team. Football fans started ignoring matches and stop supporting teams. So fans were more clear in their political position them football teams.
Elena Levchenko, the most famous basketball player of Belarus, two-time Olympic participant. Elena Levchenko was detained on September 30 at the airport before flying to Athens for rehabilitation. She and arrested for „participating in an unsanctioned event“. She was supposed to be released on the morning of October 15th, but there was a message about the re-arrest. After her release, she told about torturous conditions of detention: no warm water, no mattresses, no hygiene supplies, lack of outdoor walks, always-on lights at night etc.
Brothers Egor and Nikita Meshcheryakovy, bascketball players. While Egor Meshcheryakov, the Deputy Head of the Belarusian Basketball Federation, was taking part in protest marches, his collegue the chairman of BBF Maxim Ryzhenkov participated in a pro-government rally an the same street.
Artur Udris, volleyball. Eight days after the 2020 elections, volleyball players contacted Tribuna.com and said they were refusing to play for the Belarusian national team until they met their demands, including the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko. There were four signatures under the letter - Artur Udris, Vyacheslav Shmat, Andrey Radyuk and Sergey Antanovich.
Anastasia Arkhipova, sambo. Anastasia was one of the first who signed the letter for fair elections and against violence. In autumn 2020 she was pregnant with the third kid, but she was not afraid visiting protest ralleys.
Vitali Hurkou, the world champion in muay-thai and kickboxing. After his video, where he supported arrested basketball player Elena Levchenko, he was banished by Ministry of sport in Belarus.
Vasilij Khomutovski, former goalkeeper of the national football team, the coach of Dynamo Brest goalkeepers was fired from the club on September 5, 2020. He auctioned off the uniform and boots, in which in 2005 the then-champion of Spain and the winner of the UEFA Cup "Valencia" club was beaten. The artefacts were sold for 570 euros.
Svetlana Scherbacevich, shooting.
On March 23, Ekaterina Snytsina, the captain of the Belarusian basketball team, who played a key role in reaching the finals of EuroBasket 2021, announced her retirement from the national team. She explained her decision as follows:“I no longer want to represent Belarus on the international arena while my people are suffering, being tortured and repressed, when people are being killed, maimed and held in prisons with impunity. No matter how many officials claim that sport is out of politics, in our country sport is the propaganda of the regime, and I do not intend to be a part of it."
Before Ekaterina Snytina auctioned off her bronze medal won at the 2007 European Championship to support BSSF.
Olga Khizhinkova, Belarusian model and Miss Belarus-2008, runner. She had three trials for taking part in protests. In total, Olga served 42 days. The girl was kept without basic sanitary items, in a cell full of lice.
Novozhilova Natalia, fitness coach, she was a pioneer at this discipline, we can say she was a woman who brought fitness to Belarus. During the #ZOZHteam iniciative every Sunday there were nationwide morning exercises leaded by Natalia Novozhilova. The main tool there was a towel.
Ivan Ganin, kickboxing and muay thai. On November 8, he was detained together with Andrei Kravchenko because they took part in protest rally. He was in jail for 10 days.
Hanna Sola, beathlon.
Anastasia Kalashnikova, kickboxing and muay thai. Also Anastasia works as an ambulance paramedic. On July 5, 2021, her contract was not renewed.
The family of Andrei Kravchenko and Jana Maksimova, decathlon and heptathlon. On November 8, Andrei Kravchenko was detained and served 15 days in a jail. He was one of the first athlets who signed an Open Letter of Free Athletes. For that he was fired from his job and expelled from the National Athletics Team. Later he auctioned off his championship gold medal for BSSF. In the spring of 2021, Andrei Krafchenko had starved for 10 days in solidarity with political prisoners.
Alexandr Nikolajchuk, fencing.
Alexei Kudin, kickboxer, nicknamed Brick. He is a world champion and European versions WBKF, King of Kings – Grand Prix K-1 tournament finalist. On August 10, 2020, Aleksey Kudin was detained after a protest in the town of Molodechno. During the arrest, the soldier was shot at. He was released on August 21, initiating a criminal case against him and choosing a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest. However, Kudin did not appear at the hearing on November 19. According to his wife, the husband announced that he was leaving for the court. She did not see him again, he did not answer phone calls. After that, the judge changed the measure of restraint to detention, and Alexey Kudin was officially put on the wanted list.On January 21, 2021, it became known about the detention of Kudin in Moscow at the request of the Belarusian authorities. Since then, he has been under arrest in Russia, where he wrote a statement asking for political asylum.On June 25, 2021, the Moscow Regional Court rejected the appeal of the defenders against the decision to extradite to Belarus. The court ruled that he was not in danger of torture upon return and that the prosecution was not politically motivated.In one of his letters from Moscow, Alexey Kudin wrote: “I will go out with renewed vigor and desire to glorify my Motherland in the sports arena, but under a different color of the flag and coat of arms”There is a documental movie about Alexei Kudin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pd84qp-3HY
Maria Shakuro, captain of the national team and bronze medalist of the European Championship in beach rugby-2017. On October 11, Maria was detained, and the next day she sentenced to 10 days for participating in an unauthorized mass event.
Alexandra Romanovskaya a world freestyle champion. The best female athlete of the country in 2019 was fired from the national team "for absenteeism" - although at that time she was taking her father, who had a stroke, to the hospital. Also, Alexandra was deprived of the main source of income - a personal scholarship. The long-term coach Nikolai Kozenko who had been working with the Belarusian national team of Freestyle for almost 30 years was also asked to return the scholarships he had received. Alexandra Romanovskaya auctioned her gold medal of Universiade-2019.
Alexandra Herasimenia (Chairwoman of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), Olympics 2012 double vice-champion, Olympics 2016 bronze medal winner in swimming) and Alexandr Opejkin (Director of BSSF, Handball Club “Vityaz” Coordinator, European Handball Association Marketing Inspector).Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (@bssf.team) was created in August 2020 by sports officials and famous athletes, including champions and medal winners at the Olympics and other international competitions. Alexandra became a head of the Foundation.The Foundation’s goal is to provide support to the athletes who were detained and faced repressions for taking part in peaceful manifestations, excluded from the national teams, scratched from competitions, sacked, or stripped from stipends or salaries for expressing their political views.
Because of her position, Alexandra Gerasimenya lost her business in Belarus (her swimming club was denied a lease) and had to move to Vilnius.On April 2, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus opened a criminal case against the leaders of the BSSF, accusing Aleksandra Gerasimenya and Aleksandr Opeikin of causing significant image and financial damage and undermining the prestige of Belarus.
On June 3, Alexandr Ivulin, a blogger / journalist of the sports channel @chestnok_by, @tribunaby and an occasional player of the @krumkachy football club, where he wearing a T-shirt with the number #25, was detained. Ivulin was sentenced to 30 days of arrest for a flag on a window that hasn’t actually hang. He was due to be released on July 3, but was left in prison because he is suspected under criminal law now. I believe that Alexander was arrested because he is an honest journalist with a large audience, and the regime is trying to get rid of all the independent media.
Alexandr Ignatovich, paralympian with 30 titles in Belarus. Criticizes the attitude of the authorities towards people with disabilities.
Konstantin Yakovlev @kostet1985, a coach of the handball club Vitiaz Leon. On June 16, 2021, together with other free athletes, he met journalist Dmitry Ruto from prison. The car in which the athletes were traveling after meeting Dmitry Ruto was stopped by the traffic police on the M1 highway. After that, security officials in masks immediately appeared and detained Konstantin Yakovlev.After two days of consideration of the case, the coach was detained for 15 days. The reason probably was because for the evening on June 17, Konstantin planned anoutdoor training in Novaya Borovaya district free for every body who wanted to come.Athletes from SOS_BY supported him with the initiative #кожныдзень (every day). It was a hashtag that was created by Konstantin earlier for himself and everybody who wants to training every day.
Once Yelena Levchenko has said that athletes became fans for their people. This phrase turned into an image of endless energy and support, an exchange of forces, when athletes inspire the people, and the people inspire athletes.
