On 14 April 2026, photographer Aliaksandr Shishko was detained at Minsk National Airport. The information was published on the DissidentBY project website; rights defender Roman Kislyak confirmed it for Pozirk.

Aliaksandr had lived in Tbilisi since at least 2022. Why he returned to Belarus is hard to say; perhaps he missed his homeland and his family. I think he misjudged the risk of being detained — he thought he would slip through.

— Kislyak said.

The rights defender noted that after Freedom Day 2024, propagandists began mentioning Shishko in their materials.

As far as I know, a criminal case was opened over holding Freedom Day events abroad, and as part of that case his apartment in Belarus was searched.

— Kislyak added.

According to summaries in independent media, reports also raise the issue of restrictions on disposing of the photographer’s housing (alongside the practice of sealing flats in criminal cases). Shishko’s name appeared in an ONT segment with host Ihar Tur on the seizure and sealing of property belonging to activists who had left the country: the on-air list included, among others, Aliaksandr Shishko and others; as critics of the broadcast recounted, the flats were sealed in the context of criminal cases (Nasha Niva).

Authorities in Minsk routinely threaten criminal prosecution against participants in public actions abroad.

In autumn 2025, independent outlets reported mass detentions on entry into Belarus; open sources cited figures on the order of a hundred or more cases — totals may be higher depending on how they are counted. Viasna Human Rights Centre and partners regularly receive reports of questionings and detentions at Belarusian border crossings and airports, a pattern that has continued for several years.

Chronicle of political persecution — 14 April

In Belarus, detentions and raids continue, as do administrative and criminal trials; there are reports of harsh conditions in detention facilities and pressure on political prisoners; independent media products and initiatives are still added to lists of “extremist” materials and formations.

On 14 April 2026, the Viasna Human Rights Centre and related channels continue to collect and publish facts of politically motivated persecution of Belarusian women and men — as an updating chronicle (including via spring96.org). Information is added as new data comes in.

The story of Aliaksandr Shishko’s detention at the airport fits this pattern: return from abroad, prior attention from security structures to his person, and a criminal line tied to the public agenda of emigration and Freedom Day.