Aliaksandra Kasko is a Belarusian political prisoner, a medic from Vawkavysk. She was detained on 9 February 2023, after coming from Poland. First there was an administrative jail term, then a criminal case. She told a friend she was coming back to mark her thirtieth birthday with her family.
She is from Ruzhany, in the Pruzhany district. She later moved to Vawkavysk, trained as a nurse and worked in a polyclinic. She was 30 when the sentence was passed. In 2020 she took part in the movement for a free election. Friends told Nasha Niva of about ten detentions, days in jail, an isolation cell, pressure from the head doctor, and dismissal. In 2021 she left the country. She told one friend she was going to get a visa. She told another she wanted to celebrate at home. She was detained the day after she returned, already at her parents’ place, and her devices were seized. On 10 February the Vawkavysk District Court gave her 10 days under Art. 19.11, part 2, for “extremist materials.” She did not come out.
Eight articles
She was tried for two interviews with a outlet the authorities had labelled an “extremist formation,” and for running “extremist” Telegram channels. The indictment spoke of several channels, not one. Eight articles in all:
insulting an official (Art. 369); insulting a judge (Art. 391); insulting dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka (Art. 368, parts 1 and 2); defaming him (Art. 367, part 2); creating an extremist formation or taking part in one (Art. 361-1, parts 1 and 2); assisting extremist activity (Art. 361-4, parts 1 and 2); unlawful handling of private-life information and personal data (Art. 203-2, part 3); inciting social hatred (Art. 130, part 3).
The list is in REFORM.news, citing Viasna. Before the trial, on 12 September 2023, the KGB put her on its “terrorist list,” as a resident of the Pruzhany district, with a note about Art. 130. On 12 April 2024 the Interior Ministry added her to the “extremist list” as well.
The security services later claimed that an officer of the Hrodna GUBOPiK gained her trust in early 2022 by “social engineering.” In their version she ran channels under the name Homo Liber, gave her real name a month later, and in the summer of 2022 visited Belarus “under their control.” That is an account from the GUBOPiK Telegram channel. Zerkalo and Euroradio reported it as the security services’ version.
Ten years, and cases the public cannot see
The trial opened on 27 November 2023. On 19 December judge Dzmitry Bubenchyk of the Hrodna Regional Court gave her 10 years in a general-regime colony. The appeal was heard on 15 and 21 March 2024, with Sviatlana Bandarenka chairing the panel. The sentence stood. In the spring of 2024 Kasko was moved to women’s Penal Colony No. 4 in Homiel. Nasha Niva and Homiel Spring reported it.
More cases followed. In late May 2024 there was a new trial in Hrodna’s Leninski District Court, judge Natallia Horbach, again for insulting an official and a judge. The hearing was set for 31 May. The sentence was not made public. On 15 April 2025 another case became known: she was moved to a pre-trial jail in Baranavichy. Open sources do not say how it ended. By June 2026 she was back in Colony No. 4.
A cyst they did not treat until it ruptured
On 17 June 2026 Mayday Team reported that Kasko had been ill for the previous six months and that an ovarian cyst had been found. The colony administration did not react at first. When the cyst ruptured, she was taken to hospital and operated on. After that she was returned to Colony No. 4.