He went home for a passport. An ordinary errand turned into five years in a penal colony and a car sold under the hammer.
Arkadz Andreevich Kaichurenka was born on 24 March 1974 in Hrodna. He lived abroad and came back to renew his passport: since September 2023 that can only be done in person inside Belarus, not at a consulate. Zerkalo reports he was detained on 1 October 2024. He was 50 then. By the summer of 2026, when the car was sold, he was 52.
Then came the usual set of charges: inciting hatred (Art. 130, part 1), public calls to seize power (Art. 361, part 3), insulting an official (Art. 369) and insulting dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka (Art. 368, part 1). Viasna says the sentence was for comments.
On 13 October 2025 a court gave him five years in an enhanced-regime colony. On top of that, a fine of 500 base units and 5,000 rubles in “moral damages” to the injured party, Andrei Ivanovich Shvets. That is how Hrodna.life and Dissidentby report it. Dissidentby lists judge Ihar Sobaleu as the one who handled the case.
On 30 October 2025 Viasna recognised Arkadz as a political prisoner. Dissidentby had listed him from 28 October.
The owner is in a colony. The car went to auction
This summer his 2019 Lada Vesta was sold under the hammer in Hrodna. The car was under arrest. The starting price was 21,200 rubles. The auction was held on 8 July 2026. Six bidders kept outbidding one another, and the car sold for 33,178 rubles. Zerkalo and Hrodna.life reported it, citing the Telegram channel Pravo imeyut. The owner is in a colony, and at the sale there was a real fight over his car.
He is not the only one
One trip for a document cost him five years of freedom and what was left at home. He is not the only one. According to Viasna, from the start of 2024 through September more than 55 people were detained on return to Belarus. Criminal cases were opened against 17 of them. Rights defenders said at once that the number they know may be lower than the real one. Deutsche Welle carried that report on 13 September 2024.
Remember this name: Arkadz Kaichurenka. His story is about what the road home can cost now.