Dzianis Hrakhanau was arrested on September 10, 2020, at home in Minsk, for painting the phrase "We Will Not Forget" on a sidewalk near the Puškinskaja metro station and the people's memorial dedicated to the protester Aliaksandr Taraikouski shot dead on August 10, 2020.

He was detained until September 13, 2020, and was initially charged under Article 341 of the Criminal Code ('Desecration of buildings and damage to property'). He was later released on his own recognizance.

However, on October 22, 2020, Dzianis Hrakhanau was re-arrested and taken into custody in a detention center. The charges against him were reclassified to Part 2 of Article 339 ('Hooliganism committed by a group of persons') and Part 2 of Article 218 ('Deliberate destruction or damage to property committed in a generally dangerous manner or causing large-scale damage') of the Criminal Code

On December 8, 2020, the Frunzienski District Court of Minsk sentenced Dzianis Hrakhanau to 18 months of restricted freedom in an open-type penal facility. The convict was released in the courtroom pending the appeal hearing.

On April 15, 2021, Dzianis Hrakhanau was sent to serve his sentence in open-type penal facility #45 in the village of Suški, Kamianiec district, Brest region.

On February 15, 2022, the KGB officers arrived at the penal facility, took away cell phones from all the prisoners, questioned those with “political” sentences, and arrested Dzianis Hrakhanau. Human rights defenders learned that a new criminal case was brought against Hrakhanau under Article 368 of the Criminal Code ('Contempt of the President of Belarus'). The political prisoner was transferred to remand prison #3 in Homieĺ.

On July 5, 2022, the Saviecki Вistrict Court of Homieĺ tried the political prisoner. At the request of Prosecutor Bulybenka, the trial was almost immediately turned into a closed one. Judge Volha Tserakhava sentenced Dzianis Hrakhanau to 19 months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.

On August 26, 2022, in the Homieĺ Regional Court, Judge Mikalai Maratayeu considered the political prisoner's appeal behind closed doors.

In December, it became known that Dzianis Hrakhanau was transferred from remand prison #3 in Homieĺ to penal colony #3 in Vićba, Viciebsk region.

On June 10, 2023, the political prisoner was released after serving his sentence in full.

Wave of searches in open penitentiaries

The Belarusian authorities continue to repress Belarusians for exercising their political views and expressing dissatisfaction with the actions of the authorities: citizens continue to be detained and searched and other forms of pressure on Belarusians are applied.

“We Will Not Forget”: Prison sentences for writing on pavement