“Fear that does not allow you to leave at night, he stayed.” Sergey Sheleg recently said in an interview with the newspaper “Belorussian opposition” Our NivaThe field 64-year-old football player is one of the 14 political prisoners who were released on June 21, 2025. The “act of grace” of the autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko was a visit to the special invasion of Donald Trump to Ukraine Kate Kellogg in Minsk. Sheleg is currently in the country outside Belarus.
After his release, he was not returned to his old life, but returned to nowhere, Sell writes to the web site of the Belarusian non -governmental organization by BYPOL, which primarily supports victims of political repression in Belarus. He was convinced that the law -life and work in the medical industry would provide protection against tyranny. This should be a fatal incorrect judgment.
Sheleg was born in Minsk and receives a degree in the field of biology at the faculty of the Belarusian state. For 15 years, he acts as a researcher at the hematological institute in Minsk. There he works primarily on treatment methods for people who suffer from rare genetic diseases and leukemia. This is followed by activities for a large international pharmaceutical company, which he represents in Minsk.
In 2020, in Belarus around the fake presidential elections on August 9, mass protests. The regime is responding with complete firmness. Thousands are arrested, torture is an order of the day. According to the Belarusian human rights organization VJASNA, 1152 people (as of July 9, 2025) are currently in custody for political reasons.
During this time, from 2020 to 2021, Sheleg begins to sacrifice money to organizations that shared humanitarian aid programs for repressive people. He did not dream that this obligation could be doomed at some point. However, some of these organizations are subsequently called “extremist” and “terrorist”.
Sheleg will be arrested on August 1, 2023. On March 22, 2024, a decision was made: eight years and five months of prison in a camp with a “strict regime”.
Residence permit for the United States
Shelog has two sons from two marriages. The eldest has been living in the United States with his mother since 1996. For this reason, Sheleg also has a permanent residence permit for the United States. This may be one of the reasons why he was one of the released on June 21.
In early July, Sheleg turns to the public through BYPOL with a request for financial support: shortly after his release in prison, he really lacks everything. He does not have a jacket, no comfortable shoes, there is no real housing and there is no normal phone. The letter shows the effect. About 3400 euros in donations have already been received half a year later, the campaign of solidarity continues. But caring for the second family remains. She lives in Minsk, the youngest son is eleven years old.
In a few months he will be 65 years old, in Sheleg Our NivaIn fact, he wanted to make a special gift for this day: travel to 65 countries. But now nothing will become, because a dozen is still absent. But now he is aimed at this goal on his 70th birthday.
