Ihar Alinevich

Ihar Uladzimiravich Alinevich (; ; Igor Vladimirovich Olinevich) is a Belarusian anarchist political prisoner. On 22 December 2021, he was sentenced by a Belarusian court to 20 years of prison.

Biography Ihar Vladimirovich Alinevich was born on 24 September 1983. He graduated from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics as an electronic engineer. He worked on the creation of a Belarusian-Russian satellite. From adolescence he was interested in the history, theory and practice of anarchism.

Anarchist activities, kidnapping, 2011 trial In 2009–2010 he took part in several anarchists actions in Minsk. After an action of solidarity with Russian anarchists at the Russian embassy in Minsk on 30 August 2010, Alinevich left for Russia, where he hid for some time.

Olinevich was detained by unknown persons in the shopping center "U Gorbushka" in Moscow on 28 November 2010. Later, Alinevich stated that he was illegally transported across the Belarusian-Russian border with a hat pulled over his eyes. The next day (according to other information – a day later ) Alinevich's parents were informed that their son was in Minsk, in a KGB pre-trial detention center.

On 27 May 2011 Alinevich was found guilty by the Zavodskoy District Court of Minsk and sentenced to 8 years in a maximum security prison. Initially, he was held in prison No. 10 in Novopolotsk (Vitebsk region), located in an ecologically polluted area near two large chemical plants. Alinevich was allowed one meeting with his mother every six months, provided that there were no violations, In 2012, Alinevich was sent to solitary confinement for refusing to write a petition for clemency. In 2014, Alinevich was transferred to the "Vitba-3" prison (Vitebsk district of the Vitebsk region).

Alinevich was recognized as a political prisoner by Belarusian and international human rights organizations. By 2015, he remained one of the last political prisoners in the Republic of Belarus. On 22 August 2015, Alinevich was released by the decision of Alexander Lukashenko, along with five other political prisoners. The liberation had an international resonance and was seen as a step towards normalizing relations with the European Union. After his release, Alinevich emigrated. The anarchists were accused of setting fire to four cars near the building of the prosecutor's office in Salihorsk (Minsk Region) and the local branch of the State Committee for Forensic Expertise.