In 2014, he founded the website 1863x.com, wrote texts under the name John Silver, and called for rethinking the history and modernity of Belarus.
In May 2015, he was arrested under part 1 of Article 130 for “inciting ethnic enmity.” In November 2015, he left for Ukraine. In January 2016, while crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border, he was arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB), extradited to Belarus, and placed in a pre-trial detention center in Žodzina.
Recognized as a political prisoner for the first time in 2016.
On October 28, 2016, the Minsk City Court sentenced Eduard Palčys to 1 year and 9 months of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility.
Eduard Palčys was fined for taking part in actions organized in Kurapaty, the place of executions ordered by Stalin, and for taking part in a performance at Chekist barbershop.
He was arrested on September 27, 2020. His family did not know where he was for three days. It turned out that had been placed in a detention center on vulica Akrescina because back in the summer of 2020 he was tried in absentia twice to 15 days of arrest under Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. During the administrative arrest, Eduard Palčys was charged under part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (organization of mass riots).
On November 9, 2020, he was recognized as a political prisoner.
Eduard Palčys was tried under part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (organization of mass riots), part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization of actions that grossly violate public order), part 3 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (inciting social enmity), part 3 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code (inciting actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus).
Sentence: 13 years of imprisonment.
At the beginning of February 2022, it had emerged that Eduard would be transferred from the Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 in Minsk to Pre-trial Detention Center No. 2 in Viciebsk, where he spent 11 days in solitary confinement. In mid-April, he was transferred to PC No. 1 in Navapolack and spent a month, also in pre-trial detention.
On April 8, the political prisoner was included in the “List of persons involved in extremist activities.”
On June 10, 2022, according to the lawsuit filed by the Minsk prosecutor’s office, the court ordered Eduard Palčys to pay more than 575 thousand rubles (approx. 227 thousand dollars) of damage he allegedly caused to state-owned enterprises.
In mid-August 2022, it became known that Eduard’s punishment was increased: the political prisoner was transferred from PC No. 1 to Prison No. 4 in Mahiloŭ.
Mail address: Eduard Palčys, Prison No. 4, 212011, Mahilioŭ, vulica Krupskaj 99A.