62-year-old Ukrainian Citizen Held at Akrestsina for Almost a Year Without Charge

Photo of Natallia Batashava from her social media

Natallia Batashava is originally from the Ukrainian city of Myrhorod. Before her detention, she worked as an accountant at a school. In the summer of 2025, Natallia and her husband came to Belarus on business.

According to the woman's former cellmate, Batashava's husband is Belarusian, a former serviceman who lived in Ukraine for many years and served there.

They were detained on June 23, 2025, in Vitsebsk directly on the street and immediately taken to Minsk. Natallia was placed in the Akrestsina TDC, while her husband's whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

The woman is not explained the reason for her detention, no charges are brought against her, meetings with a lawyer are forbidden, and she is not even allowed to contact her relatives.

As her former cellmate notes, Natallia is being subjected to psychological pressure, which has led to her severe psychological state. It is also known that Natallia was placed in a punishment cell.

During her imprisonment, Natallia's health has significantly deteriorated, but she is not receiving the necessary and quality medical care — only periodically being given available pills.

In May of this year, she suffered at least three severe tachycardia attacks, and in the mornings, Natallia experienced episodes of severe cardiac cough. In addition, during her imprisonment, the Ukrainian woman suffered from severe inflammation of the submandibular lymph nodes.

Furthermore, law enforcement officers took $1200 from the woman as payment for her detention in the TDC. At the same time, she was promised that she would be deported to Ukraine.

“Natallia tried to send a message to have her relatives in Myrhorod called and informed of where she was being held, as she was considered missing. But after that, KGB officers came to her, questioned her about to whom and why she sent the message, and intimidated her,” the woman recalls.

Because Natallia has no relatives in Belarus, no one brings her parcels — in the entire year, she has received only about two. Therefore, she receives hygiene products and changes of clothes only through the help of her cellmates.

The cell where the woman is held is approximately six by four meters, designed for five people. However, sometimes 12 women were there, so they had to sleep on the floor.

Other foreign women are also held with Natallia. Among them was Iranian dental student Khatereh Hadadadi, who was detained in Belarus for comments about Iran in a Telegram channel, and was with Natallia for some time before her deportation. She was initially sentenced to 14 days of arrest, but after the term expired, she was not released but kept awaiting deportation. According to "Viasna"'s interlocutor, because Georgia refused to accept Khatereh for fear that Iranian authorities might abduct her there, she was eventually deported to Armenia. It is known that while she was in the TDC, journalists visited her and filmed a report about her.

There were also several political detainees in the cell. According to the former cellmate, only foreign women were taken to the shower twice a week, while Belarusian detainees were not allowed to.

Human rights defenders note that prolonged detention of a person in a TDC without charges and without access to a lawyer contradicts both Belarusian legislation and international standards for the treatment of detainees.

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