Ihar Alinevich was born on 24 September 1983 in Minsk. As an electronics engineer, he worked on the construction of Russian-Belarusian satellite. Moved to Poland upon release from prison in 2015.

Political views

Ihar got excited about anarchism in his teens. He joined the movement in Minsk and was a co-founder and participant of many groups and organizations. He was promoting ‘militant anarchism’ – an approach which criticized lifestyle activism and subcultural looks that is repellent to the masses and promoted an image of a well-read, strong and charismatic activist who is good at both promoting ideas and fighting cops and Neo-Nazis if necessary.

In the wave of repression against anarchists, Ihar was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to 8 years in prison for a series of radical direct actions. He was released in five years and moved to Poland. The book about his prison experience is translated in dozen on languages and gives a great account of the prison reality in Belarus.

His interests and passions include quantum physics, artificial intellect, the universe, the technologies of the future, and music (specifically, industrial).

Between his prison terms, he was working on the new updated and uncensored version of his book, he also has made presentations across Europe.
While in Poland, he he took interest in the local trade union, cooperative and social movements. He was planning to open a vegan café. He was also into crypto-anarchism with the focus on protection of privacy, political and economic freedoms.

Ihar was critical of legalism and decided start a vlog to explain his idea of the 2020 Belarusian uprising to the audience. Later, he decided to get directly involved in it.

Detention and conviction

Ihar Alinevich was detained with three other comrades while trying to secretly cross the Ukrainian-Belarusian border on the night of 29 October 2020. He was beaten up by border guards while the police cut off the skin on his feet to extort a statement from him. Together with Dzmitry Rezanovich, Dzmitry Dubouski and Siarhei Ramanau, he was charged under a terrorist article for possessing weapons and setting fire to government officials’ vehicles, the headquarters of the traffic police and the state forensics committee. Ihar received a sentence of 20 years of imprisonment.

Detention conditions

Soon after starting serving his term, Ihar was transferred to maximum security prison. He is entitled to just one family visit and a few care packages per year. He has trouble getting books and can only correspond with his immediate family. Several of his lawyers had their license canceled by the state. He regularly stays in a punishment cell or experiences pressure from the administration or cellmates (at the cops’ request).

Ihar began was on hunger strike in September 2022 demanding that the prison administration stop preventing his complaints from reaching the recipients. Ihar is on the list of “terrorists” and cannot receive commissary money from people other than immediate family.

Family

His mother is PhD in Economy. In 2013 she got fired from Belarusian Economy State University because of being related to Ihar. Ihar’s sister lives in Switzerland with her family. He has several close friend in Belarus, Poland, Russia and some other European countries.

In his book, Ihar wrote:

I believe that the best solidarity is news about the development and successes of the movement. In this way, it is confirmed for ourselves what we were actually trying to do.

Ihar Alinevich on Wikipedia

On the Way to Magadan (book). Available for purchase in English and German

Belarus and Soviet Authoritarianism. Interview with Ihar Alinevich

Ihar Alinevich: I Realized I Just Cannot Give Up

Ihar’s Youtube channel

Open letter in support of Belarus anarchist revolutionaries

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