Children 328 in Belarus:
Criminal prosecution of adolescents and the protection of their rights in Belarus
An Our House review covering 1 January 2025 — 4 November 2026
Who are Children 328
“Children 328” is the name of the Our House campaign for the release of Belarusian children convicted under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of Belarus and respect for their rights. In this review, the term also covers minors suspected or accused of offences under this article. The number 328 refers to the article of the Criminal Code of Belarus concerning the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
Children under Article 328 are understood here primarily as persons who were under eighteen at the time of the alleged act. A case in which the accused had turned eighteen by the time of the trial is also included.
Our House’s practical experience shows that an accusation under Article 328 does not in itself establish a child’s guilt. In cases handled by the organisation, signs of fabricated charges, torture and confessions obtained under pressure were repeatedly identified. Without examining the circumstances of recruitment, the evidence and the defence’s position, the investigators’ account cannot be accepted as established fact and must be treated with considerable scepticism.
The Children 328 campaign seeks the release of children, the examination of allegations of torture and fabricated charges, protection from entrapment and exploitation, and access to a lawyer, medical care and education. Formal mitigation of the law is no substitute for protecting the child in each individual case.
The review is based on twenty accounts of individual cases and group proceedings in 2025–2026. The full files in most cases are unavailable; relatives are often afraid to contact human rights defenders. Statements by the authorities primarily reflect the prosecution’s position.
How adolescents are recruited
In Our House’s experience, adolescents are usually told that the work being offered is entirely legal. They are promised high earnings — for example, two to three thousand euros a month. For a child whose family faces serious financial hardship, such an offer is particularly attractive. Sometimes they are given a fictitious “employment contract” to sign: the imitation of formal employment creates an impression of legality but provides neither employment protections nor legal work.
The adolescent then receives instructions from an anonymous “handler”: to collect packages, transport them, leave them in concealed locations and send the coordinates. According to the organisation’s observations, children often do not understand the true nature of the work; recruitment involves deception and may subsequently be reinforced by threats. The Investigative Committee itself reported the case of a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl from Minsk who was not told what the packages contained when she was first contacted. [27]
Our House also reports cases of entrapment by police officers, including officers of GUBOPiK — the Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption. According to the organisation’s information, officers communicate anonymously with adolescents online and may act as “handlers” offering such work. The organisation regards this practice as drawing children into activities for which the same law enforcement agencies subsequently prosecute them.
Brief involvement can result in years of imprisonment. According to a judge’s account, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl from Minsk began carrying out assignments on 1 September 2024 and was detained the following day. In 2025, she was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. [25]
Penalties and inaccessible statistics
Criminal responsibility for acts without intent to supply, covered by Part 1 of Article 328, begins at sixteen; under Parts 2–5, it begins at fourteen. Supply means transferring a substance to another person, including without payment. Part 4 — acts committed as part of an organised group — is frequently applied in cases involving adolescents. The special maximum term of imprisonment for particularly serious drug offences committed before the age of eighteen is twelve years. [5] [13–15]
Comprehensive statistics on children in detention are not publicly available, making it impossible to establish their total number. According to Our House’s data from the period when statistics were publicly available, Article 328 ranked first in Belarus by the number of people convicted; because of its widespread application, it is known as the “people’s article”. This figure concerns all age groups, not only children.
Individual published figures show that, in 2025, 17 minors were convicted under Part 1 and 51 under Parts 2–5; fifty of the latter received actual custodial sentences. In the first half of 2026, eight minors are known to have been convicted under Part 1: seven received restriction of liberty and one a deferral of sentence. The publication used does not contain complete, comparable data for Parts 2–5 for that period. [17] [18]
What the amendments and amnesty changed
From 3 March 2025, detention became an available form of punishment under Part 1, and restriction of liberty for three to five years became available under Part 2. Under Part 4, the minimum prison term was reduced from ten to eight years; no corresponding reduction was made under Part 3. The more lenient law permits the review of previous sentences but does not mean that every sentence is automatically reduced. [2] [4] [5]
The amnesty that entered into force on 8 May 2025 provided for release, sentence reductions or the substitution of punishment, subject to conditions and exceptions. According to Our House, despite extensive publicity for the amnesty involving Alexander Lukashenko, it covered only fifteen “Children 328”. There was no general release of adolescents. [6–8]
A pardon is a separate procedure. The announcement of 24 January 2025 concerned fifteen pardoned individuals in total: seven had been convicted of drug offences, six of whom had committed them as minors. This group must not be confused with the results of the amnesty. [12]
Torture and conditions in the juvenile penal colony
According to testimonies collected by Our House, Juvenile Penal Colony No. 2 in Bobruisk is considered one of the most brutal places of detention in Belarus. The organisation assesses the treatment of children as even harsher than in adult penal colonies, where torture, abuse and prisoners’ deaths are also documented. According to its observations, the administration uses Soviet disciplinary practices, the prison’s unwritten “code” and prisoners dependent on the administration to put pressure on adolescents.
The European Union placed the colony’s head, Sergei Maslyukov, on its sanctions list. The statement of reasons cites responsibility for inhuman and degrading treatment of minors, including starvation, torture, forced labour, physical and psychological violence, and denial of medical care. [64]
Former juvenile political prisoner Oleg Dobrydnev told Deutsche Welle about regular beatings, hard labour in freezing conditions and the administration’s use of prisoners to punish other children. Amnesty International drew attention to threats to the health of Vladislav Sharkovsky and Emil Ostrovko, whose release Our House sought. [65] [66] [69]
Belarusian child political prisoner Mikita Zolotarov was detained at sixteen. Amnesty reported beatings, questioning without a lawyer or a responsible adult, solitary confinement and problems obtaining treatment for epilepsy. His political case, which was unrelated to Article 328, illustrates the risks of violence against children in detention. Our House stresses that fabricated cases and torture require an independent investigation, and that a conviction does not resolve the question of a child’s innocence. [69]
Our House’s contribution to the release of Children 328
The Children-328 campaign became one of the areas of work undertaken by the human rights organisation Our House to protect minors within Belarus’s criminal justice system. The organisation analysed adolescents’ criminal cases, assisted their parents, documented violations during investigations and the serving of sentences, submitted materials to international human rights bodies and sought changes in the state’s approach to minors convicted under Article 328. [51] [52] [59]
Our House did not and does not condone drug use or distribution. However, the organisation opposed a situation in which a fourteen-year-old could receive ten years’ imprisonment, spend a substantial part of their youth in a penal colony, be virtually isolated from their family and subjected to violence, forced labour and other forms of ill-treatment, and then be released without even a school-leaving certificate.
The organisation’s position is that the fight against drugs must not turn into the complete destruction and devastation of the life of a child and their family. After eight or ten years of imprisonment, the person leaving the colony is already a young adult whose adolescence and youth have been spent in prison, amid violence, torture and isolation. [59]
The start of the campaign and cooperation with Mothers-328
The Children-328 campaign began in 2017. Appeals from convicted children’s relatives were among the factors that prompted its creation. Representatives of the Mothers-328 movement came to Our House, provided criminal case materials and described their children’s situation. [51] [59] [74]
Thus, from the outset, the campaign developed not only as a human rights initiative by specialists, but also as cooperation with the families of imprisoned adolescents.
At the initial stage, lawyers engaged by Our House examined twelve criminal cases involving minors. They identified violations of national legislation and international standards: unjustified detention, delayed notification of parents, investigative actions conducted without legal representatives, and obstacles to education. [51]
Our House also helped arrange powers of attorney from children who had reached adulthood, enabling their parents to obtain criminal case materials, approach lawyers and seek reviews of sentences. [51]
The organisation examined in detail 36 criminal cases involving children and young people convicted under Article 328. According to Our House’s experts, these cases revealed serious problems with the evidence, reports of confessions obtained under pressure and through violence, and discrepancies between the adolescents’ actual actions and the charges brought against them. [59]
Documenting violations and submissions to the UN
The database of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights contains an analysis prepared by Our House experts of Belarus’s fifth and sixth periodic state reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The document challenged the Belarusian authorities’ claim that the country had a child-friendly justice system. Our House reported physical and psychological violence, the unlawful collection of evidence, excessively harsh sentences and inadequate protection of minors during investigations. [52]
Particular attention was paid to violations of the right to education, the lack of necessary medical and psychological care, adolescents’ conditions of detention and insufficient investigation of the role of adults who recruited children into criminal activity. [52]
This work brought the issue from domestic discussion in Belarus to the level of international mechanisms for protecting children’s rights.
International protection for individual adolescents
Our House submitted the findings of legal assessments and accounts of individual cases to Amnesty International. Amnesty experts later met with Belarusian mothers. The mothers then travelled to Warsaw to meet Anaïs Marin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus. [51]
On 21 March 2019, Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal in defence of Emil Ostrovko and Vasily Sauchankau. Both had been detained at seventeen and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in 2018.
Amnesty reported inadequate medical care, a lack of full access to education, hard labour without sufficient rest or protective equipment, and discrimination against those convicted of drug offences. The international organisation demanded that the adolescents be provided with treatment, food, education and safe working conditions, and that discriminatory treatment cease. [51] [53]
Thus, information initially collected by Belarusian mothers, lawyers and human rights defenders became the basis for an international campaign to protect specific juvenile prisoners.
An appeal to Lukashenko and public actions
In an interview with the German publication Jungle World on 18 July 2019, Olga Karach said that a list of thirty-two young people convicted under Article 328 had been sent to Alexander Lukashenko. Our House sought their release under an amnesty and a review of sentences that the organisation considered excessively harsh. [54]
Public work within Belarus continued at the same time.
On 14 December 2019, Viasna reported an authorised picket outside the Kyiv cinema in Minsk, organised by the Mothers-328 movement together with Our House’s Children-328 initiative. Participants called for attention to the lengthy sentences under Part 4 of Article 328 and the need to review unjust sentences. [51] [55]
Cooperation with Mothers-328 was an important part of the campaign: prisoners’ relatives provided information about individual cases and detention conditions, participated in public actions and international meetings, while Our House helped bring these individual stories into the spheres of legal work and international human rights advocacy.
Stigmatisation of prisoners and coloured tags
In its work with Children-328, Our House drew attention not only to the length of sentences, but also to the additional colour-based stigmatisation of prisoners within the penitentiary system.
According to the organisation, those convicted of drug offences were singled out with special colour coding. Green tags were used for prisoners convicted under Article 328. A similar colour-coding system later became widely known in relation to people placed by penal colony administrations on various preventive monitoring registers, including political prisoners, who are most often marked in yellow. [59]
Our House sent requests to state bodies demanding an explanation of the legal basis for this colour coding of child prisoners. For almost two years, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs denied the existence of such a system in every possible way, but Our House did not give up. According to the organisation’s materials, following lengthy correspondence, the penitentiary authorities officially confirmed the existence of a colour-coding system for different categories of prisoners. [59]
For Our House, this practice was significant as an example of how children convicted under Article 328 faced not only deprivation of liberty, but also additional singling out within the prison environment, which could increase their vulnerability and discrimination.
Detention conditions and forced labour of child prisoners in Belarus
Protecting adolescents included examining what happened after sentencing.
In the 2019 Jungle World interview entitled “This Is Practically Slave Labour”, Olga Karach drew attention to prisoners’ extremely low pay, the use of juvenile labour and the production in penal colonies of goods that subsequently reached foreign markets. [54]
The problem of hard labour and discrimination against adolescents was also reflected in Amnesty International’s urgent appeal. In particular, the organisation demanded safe working conditions and an end to the practice of singling out those convicted of drug offences. [53]
Research into prisoners’ working conditions later became a separate area of Our House’s work. In October 2026, Olga Karach spoke to the German television channel ZDF about the continuing use of forced labour in Belarus’s penitentiary system. [59]
Thus, for the organisation, the Children-328 campaign became one of the starting points for broader research into the economic exploitation of prisoners and the structure of Belarus’s forced labour system.
International advocacy and Our House’s work after 2020
Work to protect children in closed institutions continued after the political crisis of 2020.
On 1 June 2021, Our House joined ADC Memorial and organisations from Ukraine and Moldova in an international discussion on the situation of children in closed institutions. Participants spoke about torture, inhuman treatment and inadequate access to education and medical and psychological care. [57]
The 2021 campaign also included closed expert discussions, international presentations, information programmes and monitoring activities. According to published information, 37 information programmes for YouTube, podcasts and online radio, six reports, eight monitoring reports in Russian and eight in English were produced. The information campaign’s total reach was estimated at more than 200,000 users. [71]
On 24 June 2021, Olga Karach spoke at an international event dedicated to supporting victims of torture, presenting a report on the ill-treatment of children in closed institutions in Belarus.
On 30 October of the same year, the situation of children in places of detention was discussed at the World Congress of Belarusian Diasporas. Participants in the discussion included young people with personal experience of being held in closed institutions in Belarus. [71]
This made it possible to consider the issue of Children-328 not in isolation, but within the broader context of violence against children in Belarus’s system of closed institutions.
Pressure on women activists from Mothers-328
After 2020, some women who had previously spoken publicly in defence of their children and participated in the Mothers-328 movement also faced repression.
For example, Maryna Kisyalevich, the mother of a young man convicted under Article 328, was herself subjected to criminal prosecution after the 2020 protests. In 2022, she was sentenced to four years of restriction of liberty. [72]
The detention of Mothers-328 activist Liana Shuba was also reported in May 2022. [73]
These cases show that, over time, the issue acquired an additional dimension: pressure was directed not only at the convicted adolescents themselves, but also at the women who publicly called for reviews of their cases and changes to state drug policy.
The significance of the Children 328 campaign in Belarus
Our House’s work on Children-328 passed through several stages: from helping individual families and analysing criminal cases to public actions, cooperation with Amnesty International and UN mechanisms, documenting detention conditions and researching broader problems within Belarus’s penitentiary system.
In its 2020 concluding observations, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility for certain drug offences to fourteen, lengthy prison sentences, inadequate detention conditions, the lack of full access to education and medical care, and instances of forced labour. The Committee recommended that Belarus expand the use of alternatives to imprisonment and use the detention of a minor only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest necessary period. [56]
These recommendations addressed many of the problems that Our House, Mothers-328 and other human rights initiatives had documented in preceding years. [52] [56]
Our House’s contribution went beyond public criticism of lengthy sentences. The organisation helped families understand criminal cases, collected testimonies about violence and detention conditions, sought international attention for individual adolescents, cooperated with the mothers of convicted children and gradually expanded its research from individual Article 328 cases to the broader issue of children’s rights and forced labour within Belarus’s penitentiary system.
Our House is not giving up and will not back down while children remain in Belarusian prisons. Belarusian children must not spend their childhood in prison.
Appendix 1. A chronology of twenty cases
Twenty cases are presented below. Each case is an individual story or a group proceeding. Some incidents involve several adolescents.
Cases published in 2025
K01 Brest, two schoolboys aged 14 and 15
08.02.2025
Two ninth-grade pupils were detained on suspicion of distributing a particularly dangerous psychotropic substance in Brest and Brest District. If the Ministry of Internal Affairs is to be believed, they became involved after reading an online advertisement, but were detained just two weeks later. They may be sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. [21]
K02 Minsk, three minors and three kilograms of a psychotropic substance
Detention — 03.04.2025; publication — 09.04.2025
The State Border Committee reported the detention, jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of three Belarusian citizens under eighteen. According to the agencies’ account, around three kilograms of 4-CMC (a particularly dangerous psychotropic substance) were seized at a residence and in a concealed location in Minsk Region. The alleged distribution was classified as activity by an organised group. They face up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [22]
K03 Minsk, a 16-year-old female student and a deferral of the execution of her sentence
20.05.2025
A 16-year-old female student used drugs at college and was hospitalised. The Frunzensky District Court imposed two years’ imprisonment under Part 1 of Article 328, but deferred the execution of the sentence for one year; compulsory treatment was also reported. [23]
K04 Pinsk, a 15-year-old schoolboy
10.06.2025
A ninth-grade pupil who accepted an offer of highly paid work through a messaging app packaged substances and placed them in concealed locations in and around Pinsk. The fifteen-year-old child faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [24]
K05 Minsk, a 16-year-old schoolgirl and eight years’ imprisonment
Published on 05.07.2025
Tatyana Sergienko, a judge of Minsk’s Tsentralny District Court, described the case of a schoolgirl sentenced to eight years under Part 4 of Article 328. The girl received a batch of a psychotropic substance on 1 September 2024 and was detained two days later. The drug dealer had promised her pay of 50 dollars a day. She was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. [25]
K06 Bereza District, adolescents aged 14 and 16
17.07.2025
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the detention of a schoolboy from a “neighbouring country” who had come to visit his grandmother during the holidays, and a college student from Beloozersk. According to the ministry, they accepted an offer to earn money and began placing substances in concealed locations. The adolescents face up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [26]
K07 Minsk, a 14-year-old schoolgirl
Detention — 13.05.2025; publication — 28.07.2025
According to the Investigative Committee, the girl had been carrying out assignments to place packages since April 2025. Investigators stated that, when she was first contacted, the contents were not disclosed to her, and she was later offered the substance to try. She was detained as early as May. She was charged under Part 4 of Article 328. She faces between 8 and 12 years’ imprisonment. [27]
K08 Mogilev, a 15-year-old schoolgirl
11.08.2025
Artyom Moiseyev, head of the drug control department at the Leninsky District Police Department, reported the detention of a ninth-grade schoolgirl. According to his account, she read an online offer to work as a wholesale and retail courier. The substance 4-CMC was found on her and in concealed locations. She faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [28]
K09 Grodno, a 14-year-old adolescent and eight years in a penal colony
05.11.2025
GS BY reports a sentence under Part 4 of Article 328. According to the court’s account, the schoolboy was involved in the trafficking of around 480 grams of 4-CMC and received more than three thousand roubles (approximately 820 euros). He was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in a juvenile penal colony, without a fine. [29]
K10 Bobruisk, girls aged 13 and 14
04.12.2025
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the detention of two schoolgirls after approximately two weeks of carrying out assignments for an online drug shop. According to the ministry, 4-CMC was found. Criminal proceedings for supplying drugs were opened against the fourteen-year-old; she faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment. For the thirteen-year-old, placement on a preventive monitoring register for one year and the holding of her parents liable were announced. [30]
Cases published in 2026
K11 Mogilev, a 15-year-old college student
11.02.2026
The Oktyabrsky District Court of Mogilev imposed eight years in a juvenile penal colony under Part 4 of Article 328. According to the prosecutor’s office, the adolescent began carrying out assignments in October 2025 and was detained in December; the case involved 227.56 grams of 4-CMC and earnings of around eight hundred roubles (approximately 220 euros). [31]
K12 Grodno, a minor, nine years in a penal colony
05.03.2026
The young man wanted to earn money for a motorcycle by his eighteenth birthday. According to the prosecutor’s office, around five hundred grams of alpha-PVP were seized from him. The Oktyabrsky District Court of Grodno imposed nine years’ imprisonment under Part 4 of Article 328 in a general-regime correctional colony, without a fine. [32]
K13 Minsk, a 16-year-old schoolboy and six years’ imprisonment
26.04.2026
A sixteen-year-old student gave an acquaintance 1 gram of hashish. He was sentenced to six years in a juvenile penal colony under Part 3 of Article 328. Upon reaching adulthood, he will be transferred to an adult correctional colony. [33]
K14 Minsk, schoolboys aged 14 and 16 in pretrial detention
04.05.2026
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported two schoolboys suspected of carrying out assignments for an online drug shop. According to the prosecution, a substance containing tetrahydrocannabinol was seized from one of them, and information about concealed locations was found on their phones. Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Article 328; both were placed in a pretrial detention centre. They face between 6 and 12 years’ imprisonment. [34]
K15 Brest, a 14-year-old adolescent
24.06.2026
According to the Brest Regional Department of Internal Affairs, the schoolboy had been carrying out assignments for an online shop for around two weeks. The seizure of more than fifty grams of mephedrone was reported upon his detention. Criminal proceedings were opened under Article 328; the applicable part of the article was not publicly specified. [35] [36] [13]
K16 Minsk, a 17-year-old adolescent and eight years in a penal colony
02.07.2026
The Partizansky District Court found the adolescent guilty under Part 4 of Article 328 and imposed eight years in a juvenile penal colony and a fine of twenty base units. Upon reaching the age of 18, he will be transferred to an adult correctional colony. According to the prosecutor’s office, he responded to a vacancy in February 2026 and was detained in mid-March after placing mephedrone in concealed locations. [37]
K17 Yelsk District, a ninth-grade schoolboy and a female college student
18.08.2026
The court heard the case of two adolescents born in 2009 and 2010 in a closed hearing. They had been carrying out assignments for less than three weeks. More than 250 grams of 4-CMC were found during their detention and in concealed locations. Under Part 4 of Article 328, each was sentenced to eight years in a juvenile penal colony, without a fine. [38]
K18 Minsk, a 14-year-old eighth-grade schoolboy
15.09.2026
According to Minsk police, the adolescent responded to an online advertisement and was detained while carrying out a test assignment to place several doses of mephedrone in concealed locations. Criminal proceedings were opened under Article 328. He faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [39] [40]
K19 Bobruisk, a 16-year-old student from Orsha
12.10.2026
According to the prosecutor’s office, the student carried out assignments from April to June 2026 in Bobruisk, Orsha District and Bobruisk District. He was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. [41]
K20 Vitebsk, a 16-year-old schoolboy awaiting trial in custody
Prosecutor’s office statement — 13.10.2026; publication — 14.10.2026
The prosecutor’s office reported that a case under Part 4 of Article 328 had been referred to court. According to the prosecution, the schoolboy agreed to carry out assignments for an online shop, received batches, and packaged and placed substances. The events in July involved 58 grams of alpha-PVP, some of which he carried on his person. He faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment. [42]
Sources and links
[1] Official portal of Alexander Lukashenko — Law amending the codes on criminal responsibility signed
Date: 17.02.2025.
https://president.gov.by/ru/events/podpisan-zakon-ob-izmenenii-kodeksov-po-voprosam-ugolovnoj-otvetstvennosti
[2] Law No. 61-Z of 17 February 2025
Date: 17.02.2025.
https://prg.kz/document/?doc_id=39813359
[3] Official publication of Law No. 61-Z on Pravo.by
Date: 20.02.2025.
https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=H12500061
[4] A lawyer’s analysis of the 2025 amendments to the Criminal Code of Belarus
Date: 2025.
https://www.lawpike.by/spec/ugolovnyi-advokat/izmeneniya2025
[5] Mediazona — Detention for possession and restriction of liberty for distribution
Date: 19.03.2025.
https://mediazonaby.com/article/2025/03/19/328
[6] Law No. 70-Z of 6 May 2025 on amnesty — SoyuzPravoInform
Date: 06.05.2025.
https://base3.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=166510
[7] Lawyer in Minsk — The 2025 amnesty in the Republic of Belarus
Date: 2025.
https://www.lawpike.by/articles/amnistiya2025
[8] Belarusian Republican Bar Association — Response on the application of amnesty to Article 328
Date: 29.04.2025.
https://brka.by/consultation/budet-li-primenyatsya-amnistiya-na-st-328-ch-y/
[9] The Ministry of Internal Affairs provided details of the forthcoming amnesty
Date: April 2025.
[10] Mediazona — Authorities publish a draft amnesty law
Date: 26.04.2025.
https://mediazonaby.com/news/2025/04/26/amnesty
[11] The 2025 amnesty law
Date: 06.05.2025.
https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=H12500070
[12] Interfax — Lukashenko pardons several more people convicted of extremist activity
Date: 24.01.2025.
https://www.interfax.ru/world/1004463
[13] Criminal Code of Belarus — Article 115 as amended as of 1 January 2026
Date: version as of 01.01.2026.
https://prg.kz/m/amp/document/30414984/6/1070000/
[14] WIPO Lex — Criminal Code of Belarus, 2019 version
Date: version as of 2019.
https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/legislation/details/20145
[15] Law No. 245-Z of 29 January 2015 — Changes to the age of criminal responsibility and Article 115
Date: 29.01.2015.
https://base3.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=72932
[16] Pozirk — The number of people convicted under drug-related articles is rising in Belarus
Date: 30.07.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/148900/
[17] Belnovosti — Supreme Court statistics for 2025
Date: 15.02.2026.
https://www.belnovosti.by/proisshestviya/statistika-verhovnogo-suda-belarusi-na-79-vyroslo-chislo-osuzhdennyh-za-narkotiki-v
[18] Nasha Niva — What penalties are currently imposed for drugs in Belarus
Date: 24.07.2026.
https://nashaniva.com/ru/400597
[19] Sputnik Belarus — Ministry of Internal Affairs: Minors’ involvement in drug trafficking has fallen by a third
Date: 08.12.2025.
https://sputnik.by/20251208/mvd-uchastie-nesovershennoletnikh-v-narkooborote-snizilos-na-tret-1102360351.html
[20] Pozirk — Juvenile crime declined in the first half of the year
Date: 23.07.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/147802/
[21] Zerkalo — Two ninth-grade pupils in Brest found part-time work online
Date: 08.02.2025.
https://news.zerkalo.io/accidents/90775.html
[22] Pozirk — Three adolescents face up to 20 years for distributing psychotropic substances
Date: 09.04.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/133562/
[23] ProInfo — A 16-year-old female student used drugs on college premises
Date: 20.05.2025.
[24] Belnovosti — A ninth-grade schoolboy packaged and distributed substances in Pinsk
Date: 10.06.2025.
https://www.belnovosti.by/obshchestvo/devyatiklassnik-fasoval-i-rasprostranyal-zapreshchennye-veshchestva-v-pinske-i
[25] Nasha Niva — A Minsk schoolgirl began distributing drugs on 1 September
Date: 05.07.2025.
https://nashaniva.com/ru/371711
[26] Zerkalo — A 14-year-old schoolboy visiting his grandmother was detained in Bereza District
Date: 17.07.2025.
https://news.zerkalo.io/accidents/104119.html
[27] Pozirk — A 14-year-old Minsk schoolgirl faces up to 20 years for supplying drugs
Date: 28.07.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/148511/
[28] Pozirk — A schoolgirl was detained in Mogilev for distributing drugs
Date: 11.08.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/150516/
[29] GS BY — An adolescent in Grodno received eight years for placing drugs in concealed locations
Date: 05.11.2025.
https://www.gs.by/2025/11/05/v-grodno-podrostok-poluchil-vosem-let-za-zakladki-narkotikov/
[30] Pozirk — A 14-year-old girl who placed psychotropic substances in concealed locations faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment
Date: 04.12.2025.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/166764/
[31] Pozirk — A 15-year-old adolescent sentenced to 8 years for supplying drugs
Date: 11.02.2026.
https://pozirk.online/ru/news/175204/
[32] GS BY — Nine years in a penal colony instead of a motorcycle for his eighteenth birthday
Date: 05.03.2026.
https://www.gs.by/2026/03/05/vmesto-motocikla-k-18-letiyu-9-let-kolonii-v-grodno-vynesen-prigovor-po-delu-o-sbyte-opasnogo-psihotropa/
[33] Belnovosti — A schoolboy in Minsk was sentenced to 6 years in a penal colony
Date: 26.04.2026.
https://www.belnovosti.by/minsk/v-minske-shkolnika-prigovorili-k-6-godam-kolonii-chto-natvoril
[34] Zerkalo — Two schoolboys were detained in Minsk and placed in a pretrial detention centre
Date: 04.05.2026.
https://news.zerkalo.io/accidents/126385.html
[35] Mediazona — A 14-year-old adolescent was detained with mephedrone in Brest
Date: 24.06.2026.
https://mediazonaby.com/news/2026/06/24/328
[36] Brest Regional Department of Internal Affairs — Report on the detention of a 14-year-old adolescent
Date: 24.06.2026.
https://t.me/krepostfortuvd/82043
[37] Zerkalo — A 17-year-old boy in Minsk was sentenced to eight years
Date: 02.07.2026.
https://news.zerkalo.io/accidents/131065.html
[38] Nasha Niva — A ninth-grade schoolboy and a female college student each received eight years
Date: 18.08.2026.
https://nashaniva.com/ru/402557
[39] Mediazona — Security officers detained an eighth-grade schoolboy for placing drugs in concealed locations
Date: 15.09.2026.
https://mediazonaby.com/news/2026/09/15/boy
[40] Minsk police — Report on the detention of an eighth-grade schoolboy
Date: 15.09.2026.
https://t.me/police_minsk/40016
[41] MASHEKA — An adolescent in Mogilev Region received 8 years in a penal colony for placing drugs in concealed locations
Date: 12.10.2026.
https://masheka.by/novosti-mogileva/24409-na-mogilevschine-podrostok-poluchil-8-let-kolonii-za-zakladki.html
[42] Mediazona — A 16-year-old schoolboy from Vitebsk will stand trial for placing drugs in concealed locations
Date: 14.10.2026.
https://mediazonaby.com/news/2026/10/14/vitebsk
[43] Legalize Belarus — How officials debated easing the drug-related articles of the Criminal Code
Date: 30.05.2026.
[44] Sputnik Belarus — Belarus may amend the article for drug dealers
Date: 18.12.2024.
https://sputnik.by/20241218/v-belarusi-mogut-izmenit-statyu-dlya-drag-dilerov-1091996124.html
[45] SB — Harmonisation of legal provisions and proportionality of punishment
Date: 22.02.2025.
https://www.sb.by/articles/garmonizatsiya-norm-i-sorazmernost-nakazaniya.html
[46] SB — Sukalo: Courts are already implementing the new provisions of criminal legislation
Date: 27.03.2025.
https://www.sb.by/articles/sukalo-novatsii-v-ugolovnom-zakonodatelstve-uzhe-ispolnyayutsya-sudami.html
[47] Communist Party of Belarus — Candidate Sergei Syrankov’s programme
Date: 09.01.2025.
Программа кандидата в Президенты Республики Беларусь Сергея Александровича Сыранков
[48] Belnovosti — Since the start of the year, 94 premises used to grow drugs have been identified
Date: 24.06.2026.
https://www.belnovosti.by/proisshestviya/s-nachala-goda-v-belarusi-vyyavleno-94-pomeshcheniya-dlya-vyrashchivaniya-narkotikov
[49] Sova — The number of adolescents detained for drug offences is rising in Belarus
Date: 09.01.2026.
https://sovanews.tv/2026/01/09/v-belarusi-rastet-chislo-podrostkov-zaderzhannyh-za-narkoprestupleniya/
[50] Zerkalo — The Bobruisk penal colony is controlled by operative officers to the greatest possible extent
Date: 06.06.2025.
https://news.zerkalo.io/amp/life/101131.html
[51] Deutsche Welle — AI speaks up for Belarusian adolescents convicted of drug offences
Date: 04.04.2019.
https://www.facenews.ua/news/2019/443280/
[52] Our House — Analysis of the provisions of Belarus’s fifth and sixth periodic state reports
Date: 2019.
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/DownloadDraft.aspx?key=TrC37Pmhgcagbmke2FKIfQgcO8YOLOzN%2F0nsijU+ddqjDhzM%2Fq3kRlyNFAB0rWTS
[53] Amnesty International — Protect rights of juvenile prisoners Emil Ostrovko and Vasily Sauchankau
Date: 21.03.2019.
Belarus: Protect rights of juvenile prisoners: Emil Ostrovko and Vasily Sauchankau
[54] Jungle World — This Is Practically Slave Labour
Date: 18.07.2019.
https://jungle.world/artikel/2019/29/das-ist-praktisch-sklavenarbeit
[55] Viasna — This is not a fight against the drug business. It is a fight against children
Date: 14.12.2019.
https://spring96.org/ru/news/95478
[56] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child — Concluding observations on the fifth and sixth periodic reports of Belarus
Date: 28.02.2020.
https://docs.un.org/CRC/C/BLR/CO/5-6
[57] ADC Memorial — Inhuman treatment of children is unacceptable
Date: 01.06.2021.
[58] Belarus FM — How children live in prison and after release
Date: 2021.
https://belarus.fm/ru/stolen-childhood/episode-01/
[59] Our House — The Belarusian GULAG on German Television Channel ZDF A Report Featuring Olga Karach
Date: 07.10.2026.
The Belarusian GULAG on German Television Channel ZDF — A Report Featuring Olga Karach
[60] 13 teenagers convicted on political charges, Belarus first-half court statistics show
Date: 04.08.2026
https://en.belsat.eu/94690947/13-teenagers-convicted-on-political-charges-belarus-first-half-court-statistics-show
[61] The Ministry of Internal Affairs responded to a TikTok video about police “protection” of drug dens in Vawkavysk
Date: 23.07.2026
МУС адрэагавала на відэа ў TikTok пра «крышаванне» наркапрытонаў у Ваўкавыску
[62] “Children are being imprisoned, but there are no fewer shops.” What Mothers 328 propose changing in the fight against drugs
Date: 30.11.2023
[63] “Why are adolescents held responsible for everything? The whole country should be held responsible.” Monologues by Mothers 328 on hunger strike for their convicted children
Date: 08.05.2018
https://nashaniva.com/ru/209221
[64] Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine
Date: 15.10.2026
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2012/642/2023-08-05/eng
[65] “Beaten three times a day”: The story of a young political prisoner from Belarus
Date: 23.02.2026
https://amp.dw.com/ru/bili-tri-raza-v-den-istoria-unogo-politzaklucennogo-iz-belarusi/a-76033384
[66] “I no longer love snow”: How political prisoners endure winter
Date: 28.01.2026
https://www.dw.com/ru/ne-mogu-smotret-na-sneg-kak-holodnuu-zimu-perezivaut-politzaklucennye-v-rb/a-75694796
[67] “If you do not hand over the sausage, there will be problems.” An adolescent imprisoned on “political” grounds told Zerkalo about brutality in the “children’s” penal colony
Date: 10.10.2025
https://news.zerkalo.io/life/110557.html
[68] Belarus: Young prisoners’ health at growing risk: Vladislav Sharkovsky and Emil Ostrovko
Date: 31.03.2020
Belarus: Young prisoners’ health at growing risk: Vladislav Sharkovsky and Emil Ostrovko
[69] Belarus: Release minor sentenced to five years imprisonment after unfair trial
Date: 14.04.2021
Belarus: Release minor sentenced to five years imprisonment after unfair trial
[70] 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Belarus
https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2089231.html
[71] ADC Memorial — How Our House protects children in closed institutions in Belarus
Date: 11.12.2021
МЦГИ «Наш Дом»: Как «Наш Дом» защищает детей в закрытых учреждениях Беларуси
[72] Maryna Kisyalevich’s page on belaruswomen.org
https://belaruswomen.org/ru/projects/women-political-prisoners/kisyalevich-maryna
[73] Monitoring the situation of freedom of association and the position of civil society organisations in the Republic of Belarus
Date: May 2022
https://www.lawtrend.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Monitoring-situatsii-so-svobodoj-assotsiatsij-maj-2022.pdf
[74] Nasha Niva, interview with Olga Karach.
Date: 16.04.2020
https://nashaniva.com/ru/250028
