Released political prisoners did not receive enough money from 'BY_SOL' — the fund explained how the collected donations were distributed

Each political prisoner can receive a one-time payment of 1000 euros from BY_SOL. Some request money after their release, for others, relatives receive this amount even during their imprisonment – this is a common practice. If a former political prisoner needs additional support, they can also open a personal fundraiser on BY_SOL.

After the Belarusian authorities began to deport pardoned political prisoners, BY_SOL organizes large emergency fundraisers for each such release, and then distributes all the money received among the released individuals.

For example, political prisoners from the group released in December 2025 received 2000 euros. "This amount includes 1000 euros paid under the program for supporting released prisoners. Another 1000 euros comes from the amount urgently raised by Belarusians," explained a BY_SOL representative in a comment to "Zerkalo".

Accordingly, many now assumed that each of the 250 people could receive the "traditional" 1000 euros and their share from the fundraiser. But, as "Nasha Niva" learned, the released individuals receive exactly 1000 euros — and that's it. Why is that?

BY_SOL's Operations Director Hanna Dapshiaviciute says that emergency fundraisers are precisely part of the basic payment program for former political prisoners. And these payments amount to 1000 euros.

"When we conduct emergency fundraisers, we distribute the received amount among all applicants from a specific group of released prisoners for whom the fundraiser was launched. In previous releases, when [the authorities] deported all released individuals without exception, we managed to collect more than the announced amount, and we divided the final amount among all applicants.

Павялічыць

Hanna Dapshiaviciute. Photo: citydog.by

First, they would come with their applications and receive, for example, payments of 1000 euros. And then, when applications were no longer accepted, we would distribute the remainder among everyone who had applied for that 1000 euros.'"

It should be noted that BY_SOL never previously stated that emergency fundraisers and the payment program were somehow linked, especially since that program existed long before deportations began. Nevertheless, according to Hanna, this is a long-standing practice:

"'We always have this program for providing assistance to the released, and we simply attract funds for it in various ways. Emergency fundraisers are one such way.'"

Previously, 1000-euro payments were largely financed by the International Humanitarian Fund. Now, BY_SOL does not receive money from the IHF.

Hanna clarifies that after the release of a group of prisoners in March 2026, BY_SOL announced another emergency fundraiser, but failed to collect the declared amount – out of the planned 250,000 euros, only 104,000 were raised. If there are more than 104 applicants, BY_SOL will additionally take funds from other sources – for example, from the general fundraiser:

"'We always have both personal fundraisers and our general ones. For example, in summer and autumn, we have thematic fundraisers for children. And we always have a general fundraiser in operation, through which we collect money for all our support programs. We always work to ensure donations reach it. And money from this fundraiser goes to all our programs, including the program to help political prisoners and the released.'"

Regardless, BY_SOL says that everyone who applies for it will receive 1000 euros. However, if more than 250,000 euros had been raised, each of them would have received more.

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