First Secretary of Belarusian Embassy in USA Imprisoned for Politics

Dzmitry Ilyukhin is 35 years old. He is from Novopolotsk, where he graduated from school in 2007 with a social and economic focus.

He received his higher education in one of the best universities in the region: first he studied at the Faculty of Law of Belarusian State University, then transferred to the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), which he graduated from in 2012. He also has an internship at the Free University of Berlin and a master's degree from the Faculty of International Relations of Belarusian State University.

Dzmitry began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2012. He worked as an attaché in the consular department, then spent almost three years at the Belarusian Embassy in Egypt as a third secretary. After returning to Minsk, he became the first secretary in the Department of Europe and North America. In 2019, Ilyukhin went to Canada as the first secretary.

Павялічыць

In Ottawa, he was a member of the election commission for the 2020 presidential election. According to the official protocol, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya won a landslide victory at his polling station, scoring 321 votes (91%) against Lukashenko's 21 votes (6%).

In August 2021, Ilyukhin served as a consul in New York, and then as the first secretary of the Belarusian Embassy in Washington. In April 2022, Dzmitry left the diplomatic service.

After resigning from public service, Dzmitry worked in the representative office of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies (IFRC) in Minsk, where in September 2024 he was promoted to Senior National Society Development Officer.

Павялічыць

In this position, he was effectively a representative of Geneva, responsible for reforming and professionalizing the Belarusian Red Cross Society. His work fell on a crisis period, when the IFRC suspended the membership of the BRCS due to scandals surrounding the head of the organization Dzmitry Shautsou. Ilyukhin's task was likely to return the Belarusian structure to the mainstream of international standards of neutrality and independence.

It is unknown when Ilyukhin was detained, but it happened about a year ago. Dzmitry was tried in the Minsk City Court for «aiding extremist activities» (parts 1 and 2 of Article 361‑4 of the Criminal Code). The verdict came into force in December 2025.

Now the man is serving his sentence in a colony or in «chemistry» with referral — he has not appeared on social networks for about a year, and his Telegram account has been deleted. His wife and young child are waiting for him at home.

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