14 October is Mother’s Day in Belarus. Dozens of children meet it without mothers held on political criminal charges. Among them are mothers of many children, mothers of children with disabilities, women taken together with their husbands, and those whose child was left without a mother’s care in the first months. That is what Viasna wrote on 14 October. Below are its stories, not a full list of every mother.

Belsat’s chronicle of the same day gives a figure: there are now 113 women political prisoners, and at least 14 of them are mothers of minors. Viasna’s holiday piece does not set those two numbers down. That day Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya reminded readers that more than a hundred women are in prison, and among them are mothers of minors.

A child with a disability

Nadzeya Laptsionak is 51. Three adult daughters and a son born in 2010 who has a disability. In December 2023 Minsk City Court gave her six years in a penal colony and a fine: messages and comments in Telegram chats. She is in women’s colony No. 4 in Homiel. She was put on the “terrorist” list, and for the family that means separate money and household bans. The teenage son is with his sisters.

Nelli Alferova from Polatsk was raising a minor son with a disability on her own. In 2020 she was an election observer. In November that year she was taken to the police while the sick child was left at home alone. At the end of 2021 she left for Poland with her son and soon came back: Viasna does not know why. In early 2024 she was detained again. A court ordered compulsory treatment for insulting an official. The son was left without his only guardian.

Vitalina Mikhalenia, 43, from Uzda, was raising a son on her own. Minsk City Court gave her four years for assisting “extremist” activity: the case is tied to the Belaruski Hayun project.

Both parents taken

Volha Kapuza and her husband Dzmitry lived by the Belarus–Ukraine border, in the Drahichyn district. Two minors. On 16 January 2024, in a raid, Dzmitry was shot in the thigh and his brother was beaten. Propaganda videos accused them of cooperating with Ukrainian security services and of hiding caches. The trial was closed. Volha got 21 years in a colony and a large fine for an “act of terrorism” and illegal acts with weapons and explosives. Dzmitry got 24 years. She is in colony No. 4. Relatives took the children.

Aksana Malochka and her husband Dzmitry are from Baranavichy, with three children. They were detained in November 2023. Viasna writes that the cause was a photograph of a train carrying military equipment, taken without any spy’s intent. In July 2024 a closed trial at Brest Regional Court: eight years for her for “treason,” twelve for him. In the autumn the Supreme Court did not grant the appeal. She too is in colony No. 4 and writes the children rare letters.

Tatsiana Kashcheeva worked at the 558th aircraft repair plant in Baranavichy; her husband Uladzislau worked at the 61st fighter base. Their daughter recently turned 18; their son is still at school. They were taken in the autumn of 2023. From October 2024, Brest Regional Court: “treason,” eight years for her on the general regime. In early February 2025 the Supreme Court heard the appeal in closed session. The older daughter took her brother on.

Hanna Kmit and her husband Andrei Selyaninov were detained on 31 October 2024. The charge was active participation in group acts that grossly breach public order. Two minors. She got two and a half years on the general regime and is now in colony No. 4. The children write.

The first months, and long sentences

Hanna Karniyayenka, an accountant at the Vavilov plant, was fired after the 2020 strike and went to court. She was detained on 15 January 2023. The child was a few months old. A closed trial at Minsk City Court in May 2023: unlawful acts with personal data and incitement of enmity. Five years on the general regime, colony No. 4.

Hanna Ablab worked on the Belarusian Railway. Three children; two were minors when she was detained. She was taken on 22 September 2021 in the Workers’ Movement case. Treason and participation in an “extremist formation.” The defendants did not admit guilt. In February 2023 she got 11 years on the general regime. Since September 2023 she has been in colony No. 4.

Tatsiana Kolos worked at the Minsk city executive committee and was raising a son. In June 2022 she was detained: she had allegedly passed security officers’ personal data to the Telegram channel Black Book of Belarus. Before the trial she was under house arrest for a long time. In October 2022 Minsk City Court, four articles, six and a half years on the general regime. Over four years, Viasna writes, cancer was found, and severe back pain after an old compression fracture of the spine. A transfer to hospital was postponed. Whether it happened is unknown.

Viktoryia Damastoi is the mother of three minors. At the end of January 2024 she was detained for letters and money transfers to political prisoners. Equipment and cash were taken. On 20 April, after comments on social media, she was detained again. Hrodna Regional Court: five articles, including insulting dictator Lukashenka and assisting “extremist” activity. First five years; the appeal cut it to four, general regime.

In March 2024 Minsk Regional Court gave Tatsiana Shynkevich six years for inciting social enmity. Two children. In June the Supreme Court heard the appeal, and the same month the Interior Ministry put her on the “extremist” list. Colony No. 4.