The youngest of those released from Belarusian detention on Saturday 22 November has been identified as 18-year-old Mariia Misiuk, who moved with her family from Ukraine to Belarus in 2022 and was accused of terrorism.

Source: Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda; Belarusian human rights centre Viasna

Details: It is reported, based on the available information, that Mariia Kostiantynivna Misiuk was born on 18 October 2007. She is a Ukrainian citizen who relocated with her family to Belarus in 2022.

She was detained in Belarus on 9 March 2024 when she was 16. She was charged under Article 289, an act of terrorism, of the Belarusian Criminal Code and sentenced to a prison term in a general penal colony.

A propaganda film titled Children Under Fire. Recruited by the Enemy, broadcast on state-owned Belarusian media outlet ONT on 29 April, claimed that Mariia was among seven teenagers arrested for "cooperating with Ukrainian special services" and that she had set up an "anarchist cell called Chorni solovi (Black Nightingales)" under the direction of the "National Liberation Army of Ukraine" to carry out sabotage in Belarus and Russia.

There is no independent confirmation of her involvement in any specific organisations.

Footage released by the Coordination Headquarters shows Misiuk after her return to Ukraine.

Background:

• Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 31 Ukrainian citizens on 22 November.
• Earlier, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War shared details about 31 civilians imprisoned in Belarus that were pardoned by Belarusian self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko on 22 November.

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