Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk is an opposition activist based in Brest.

Sharenda-Panasiuk was arrested on January 3, 2021. The law enforcers broke down the door of her apartment, searched the place and confiscated a number of things. Palina was taken to a temporary detention center in handcuffs. Later she was transferred to a pre-trial detention center. The activist was charged under Article 364 of the Criminal Code ('Violence against a police officer') for scratching one of the police officers who raided her apartment. Later, the woman was also accused of 'contempt of the president' (Article 368 of the Criminal Code) and 'contempt of a public official' (Article 369 of the Criminal Code).

During her detention, the woman was placed in a punishment cell several times and complained of psychological and physical pressure.

Her husband Andrei Sharenda served more than 60 days of detention. He was under house arrest, facing charges of 'contempt of the president' (Article 368 of the Criminal Code) and 'calls for action aiming to harm the national security of Belarus' (Article 361 of the Criminal Code). Later he fleed Belarus.

On June 9, 2021, the Maskoŭski District Court of Brest sentenced Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk to 24 months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.

As of the beginning of December 2021, Palina had been placed in a punishment cell five times since August.

In January 2022, Palina wrote to her husband Andrei Sharenda that in late 2021, she was kept in a punishment cell for at least 15 days and was also placed in a tighter security cell until March 18. Besides, she was deprived of a quarantine parcel.

In late February 2022, Andrei Sharenda informed that another criminal case was brought against Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code ('Malicious disobedience to demands of penal institution administration') and wrote, that the head of women's penal colony No. 4 in Homieĺ, Lieutenant Colonel Dzianis Talstsiankou, was responsible for the pressure on Palina.

On April 7, 2022, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was tried on the premises of the women's penal colony in Homieĺ. The judge of the Čyhunačny District Court of Homieĺ Mikalai Krupadziorau held the out-of-court hearing and sentenced the political prisoner to one more year in prison in addition to the above two years of imprisonment.

Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk is the first female political prisoner in Belarus convicted under this article.

On April 11, 2022, she was transferred from women's penal colony No. 4 to remand prison No. 3 in Homieĺ.

On June 8, 2022, the Homieĺ Regional Court considered Palina's appeal against the decision of the Čyhunačny District Court of Homieĺ. Judge Mikalai Marataeu upheld the verdict.

After the trial, the whereabouts of the political prisoner were unknown for more than a month. On July 22, 2022, information appeared that she was in penal colony No. 24 in Zarečča (Homieĺ region). It is known that during the first four months in the penal colony, Palina was placed in a punishment cell eight times and spent there almost three months. After that, on October 12, 2022, she was placed in a tighter security cell for six months.

Another criminal case was brought against Palina under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code ('Malicious disobedience to demands of penal institution administration').

As of mid-March 2023, the lawyer has not been admitted to see her since late December 2022. Neither food nor clothing parcels were admitted. It is known that Palina was placed in a punishment cell from December 29, 2022, to January 8, 2023, from January 13 to January 23, 2023, and from January 28 to February 27, 2023. In March, the political prisoner was placed in a punishment cell again.

In late April 2023, Palina was not given a parcel with medicines. It also became known that over the past ten months, she was kept in punishment cells and a tighter security cell for a total of 180 days.

On May 16, 2023, another trial of the political prisoner was to be held in Rečyca (Homieĺ region) under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the penal institution).

Her husband Andrei Sharenda said that Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk filed an official application for renunciation of the Belarusian citizenship in protest against the torture in the penal colony.

In early June 2023, it became known that the political prisoner was sent to the National Center for Mental Health (in the Navinki micro-district in Minsk) for a psychiatric examination. 

On June 23, it became known that Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was placed in remand prison No. 1 in Minsk. The transfer from the women's penal colony in Zarečča (Homieĺ region) to the remand prison in Minsk lasted 18 days.

On July 13, 2023, it became known that the political prisoner was sent back to penal colony No. 24 in Zarečča (Homieĺ region) literally after a few night hours in remand prison #1 in Minsk.

On August 4, 2023, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was transferred to remand prison No. 3 in Homieĺ.

It was reported that the political prisoner was transferred to Rečyca temporary detention center for "investigative actions" on August 21, 2023.

On October 2, 2023 the Court of Rečyca District began to consider another case against Palina under Part 1 of Article 411 (malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the penal institution). 

At the first trial, Polina testified that she was beaten by other inmates of penal colony No. 24 on a tip from the administration. She also spoke about the harsh conditions in the colony, in the temporary detention center of the Rečyca police station and in the Homieĺ pre-trial detention center during the year. She also spoke about the conditions of detention in Rečyca temporary detention center: she slept on the floor because she was not given a mattress, and all her personal things were taken away. She also repeatedly emphasized that all the violations were just a formality for her civil position. At the beginning of the trial, Palina reminded that she didn't consider this court to be legal and that she didn't belong to this court, since she had applied for renunciation of the Belarusian citizenship, and called the trial itself a farce.

The prosecutor asked for one year imprisonment, which is the maximum penalty under this article. The Judge Stanislau Ivaniutsenka announced the verdict: one year and three days in a penal colony.

On December 15, 2023, the Homeĺ Regional Court considered the appeal of the political prisoner. The verdict remained unchanged.

According to Palina's husband, she was placed in SHIZO in late January or early February.