Belarusian Prisoners for Peace in Belarus

Dear friends!

On December 1st, the world has been marking the Day of Prisoners for Peace for over six decades. This day serves as an expression of solidarity with those who have been imprisoned for refusing to participate in war on the grounds of conscience. It reminds us of the fate of anti-war activists who were jailed for non-violent actions aimed at preventing violence and aggression, including disrupting war preparations and preventing the army from participating in the killing of civilians.

In Belarus, in 2020, Alexander Lukashenko’s regime attempted to use the army to suppress peaceful protests and to commit violence against Belarusian citizens. Conscripts were handed weapons and sent to the streets, with a prelude of inciting hatred toward the protesters — peaceful demonstrators were portrayed as “agents of the West” or “intelligence operatives.” These young, often poorly trained and uneducated men found themselves on the frontlines of repression, leading to tragedy. One such event was the murder on August 11, 2020, in Brest, when conscript soldier Roman Gavrilov simply shot a peaceful passerby, Gennady Shutov, in the back of the head. An eyewitness to this murder, Alexander Kordyukov, was sentenced to 10 years in prison to silence him as a witness to the crime.

However, there were those who dared to stand up against the violence and refused to be part of this military machine of terror. Belarusian soldiers who resisted their army’s involvement in the killing of peaceful civilians were charged with treason and sentenced to long prison terms. We call on you to support these brave individuals and advocate for their release.

These men have become symbols of courage and resistance in Belarus. All of them ended up in prison for refusing to be part of criminal violent actions and for trying to stop the violence.

Additionally, in recent years, Belarus has become an increasingly serious trigger for security threats across the region. One of the most alarming factors is the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. However, in the context of Belarus’s authoritarian regime, where truth is rarely achieved and where information is strictly controlled and manipulated by the state, exposing any sensitive information about the placement of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is critical and necessary.

It is in this context that we must view the story of Grzegorz Gavel, a Polish monk who was officially arrested for attempting to steal and publicize documents related to Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus during the Russian-Belarusian military drills “West-2025”. While we cannot say for sure whether he actually tried to obtain and publish documents related to nuclear weapons, if so, his actions could be seen as an important and heroic step in the fight for peace and security in the region. This is the story of a man who, despite his religious and humanitarian work, found himself trapped by a repressive system that does not tolerate those who try to reveal the truth. Grzegorz Gavel now faces the death penalty in Belarus.

We urge you to support them by sending letters and continue to fight for their release.
Their stories, along with addresses for correspondence, can be found here:

https://ndbelarus.com/2025/12/05/belarusian-prisoners-for-peace-in-belarus/

In solidarity,

Our House