Belarus’s drug prisoners’ mothers go on hunger strike for shorter sentences

Prisoners’ mothers in Belarus went on hunger strike in spring 2018 to demand shorter drug sentences and reviews of their relatives’ cases. Twenty-four women took part across several locations; most ended their protest on 11 May after the government sent proposed amendments to parliament.

Families asked for their cases to be heard

The Mothers 328 movement took its name from the criminal-code offence used for drug possession and supply. Protesters sought a meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko, an independent review of cases and a more lenient drug policy.

Journalist Alina Krushynskaya interviewed participant Liana Shuba, whose son had received ten years over a synthetic-drug supply case. Shuba hoped a lower sentencing minimum might help him obtain a shorter term. She also wanted a commission to examine disputed convictions.

The interview described a fifteen-day protest, with participants in Kalinkavichy, Vostrau, Lida, Mahileu and Vitebsk.

Supply convictions carried much longer prison ranges

The legal distinction between possession for personal use and supply shaped the dispute. Before the eventual 2019 amendment, the basic supply offence began at five years in prison; several aggravated supply offences began at eight.

Personal possession had a separate rule, with restriction of liberty for up to five years or prison for two to five years. Restriction of liberty meant supervised obligations and could involve placement in an open correctional institution.

Organised-group supply occupied a further tier, with a ten-to-twenty-year range in the code’s 2019 consolidation. Which offence a court applied could therefore change a young defendant’s exposure to imprisonment substantially.

Parliament eventually cut two minimum sentences

The 2019 amendment lowered the basic supply minimum from five years to three. It reduced the minimum for the next aggravated tier from eight years to six.

The changes took effect on 27 October, more than a year after the spring protest. The maximum terms for those offences remained eight and fifteen years.

After the lower-house vote, movement leader Larisa Zhigar told Current Time that the reduction was welcome but too limited. She continued to seek relief for young prisoners.

Further sentencing choices arrived in 2025

March 2025’s reform gave courts a short-custody option for personal drug offences and restriction of liberty for basic supply. It also lowered the organised-group minimum to eight years.

The country profile follows that later shift while distinguishing personal possession, cultivation and supply, the separate offences that had such different consequences for prisoners and their families.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}