Belarus jails Lithuanian who took tourists to Chernobyl zone

Belarus has sentenced and imprisoned 27-year-old Lithuanian citizen Deividas Stanulevičius for allegedly promoting extremist activity, LRT reported, citing the portal Nasha Niva.

Stanulevičius was detained after being stopped at the border, according to the report. He was taken to a pretrial detention facility before being convicted by the Minsk City Court under Article 361-4, Part 1 of Belarus’s Criminal Code.

The details of the charges have not been made public. Nasha Niva said this is common in Belarusian court proceedings involving articles related to political cases.

Stanulevičius, a resident of Vilnius, previously played football as a defender for the amateur team Granitas and later traded cars. He also organised minibus trips from Lithuania to Poland and Belarus.

In recent years, he organised tourist excursions to the Chernobyl zone in Belarus. His last social media post about a two-day trip was published on February 23, 2026, and said the next journey was planned for March 6. He made no further posts about that trip and was detained soon afterwards, most likely at the Belarusian border.

Stanulevičius is currently serving his sentence.