Defendants in the Hayun case are reportedly offered a way to buy their freedom
OMON officers, illustrative photo
Security forces are offering some people detained in the "Hayun case" a chance to stop criminal prosecution. In exchange, they must make "voluntary" donations to state institutions. This was reported by the human rights defenders.
Earlier, one Belarusian said that for a single message sent to the "Hayun" bot, he was offered to transfer several thousand dollars to the account of the Republican Center for Medical Response Organization.
As of today, human rights defenders at "Viasna" know of 200 people who have definitively been convicted in the "Hayun case". The total number of defendants in this case is significantly higher. According to human rights defenders, detentions across Belarus are still ongoing. Some of those detained are released on bail pending trial.
Those convicted in this case are predominantly sentenced to "home chemistry" [restricted freedom with mandatory work], though there are also known cases of people being imprisoned.
The "Hayun Case"
"Belarusian Hayun" is an independent monitoring project that since 2022 tracked and published information about the activity and movement of Russian and Belarusian troops on the territory of Belarus.
In February 2025, following unauthorized access to the "Hayun" chatbot, its creator Anton Matolka announced the cessation of the project's work.
Soon after, detentions of people suspected by security forces of passing information to "Belarusian Hayun" began in Belarus. Defendants in the case are charged under the article on facilitating extremist activity.
