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In 2013,Tatyana MarynichandAnastasiya Khamiankovaopened the door toImaguru , a startup hub in Minsk , Belarus that would go on to found some of Eastern Europe ’s most prominent tech winner narration . A decade later , they ’ve been sentenced ‘ in absentia ’ to a combined 23 years in prison house by Belarusian authority . Their property has been seized . Their workplace was declared “ extremist . ” Marynich ’s passport has expired and overturn , impart her stranded and stateless in Spain .
Their offence ? build an main , pro - entrepreneurial future the Lukashenko regime take for severe for its championing of entrepreneurship in a land unremarkably dominated by state - own diligence .
“ What commence as an attempt to silence invention has evolved into the full criminalisation of independent business , ” Marynich told TechCrunch over a call .
Imaguru was n’t just Belarus ’s first inauguration hub . It became the gravitational shopping mall of the country ’s technical school ecosystem . The accelerator and co - functional space helped create over 300 inauguration and raise more than $ 100 million in investiture for the caller emerge from its programs . Successes like MSQRD ( win by Facebook ) , Friendlydata ( which was acquired by ServiceNow ) , and Prisma ( reportedly acquired by Snapchat ) can trace their roots to Imaguru ’s early hackathons attended by eager young people , hoping for a full hereafter .
“ They were the chief focal breaker point of the speculation residential district in Belarus , ” saidMax Gurvits , General Partner at Vitosha Venture Partners in Bulgaria , and an early wise man at Imaguru . “ They institute together natural endowment , investors , Angel , ran the most significant programs — it was always a pleasance to go there . ”
Another VC , US - basedMarvin Liaoof Rolling Fund Diaspora.vc , agrees . “ They were super professional and really passionate , ” he told TechCrunch . “ Imaguru was the first cardinal place where startup laminitis and aspire tech entrepreneurs came together in Belarus . Tanya and Nastia were community builders in the true sense . ”
Their impact was n’t just economical . Marynich ’s late husband , Michael Marynich , had pay a high price for his own rebelliousness years earlier .
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A former embassador and minister , he was jailed from 2004 to 2006 after daring to run against President Alexander Lukashenko in the general election . He suffered multiple cam stroke in prison , an experience that shaped Tatyana ’s decision to leave behind the International Finance Corporation within the World Bank and plunge her own speculation .
“ I was coerce into entrepreneurship , ” she said . “ Not just to subsist economically , but because I trust in the same democratic values my husband had sacrificed his health for . ”
“ If political science fail , ” she tell , “ then you have to make your own future . entrepreneur are liberal thinkers — and free mass query business leader , ” she said .
For the Lukashenko regime , that belief made Imaguru unsafe .
When Independence Becomes objection
After the 2020 elections , which werewidely learn as fraudulent , mass protests extravasate across Belarus . Imaguru decided to open its doorway not only to entrepreneurs but also to polite company grouping , NGOs , and opposition figures .
Marynich join theCoordination Council , a formal opposition trunk lead by oppositeness loss leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya . It was the net stubble for the Lukashenko regime .
“ She sign a declaration saying they want to hold barren election , ’ ” Gurvits said . “ But from that present moment ahead , she obviously became an enemy of the province , and anything related to her , like Imaguru , became completely forbidden . ”
By 2021 , the political pressure sensation became unendurable . Imaguru ’s letting was forcibly terminated by the government . As TechCrunch report at the clip , mask officers raided its offices .
By 2023 , the KGB had designate Imaguru an “ extremist formation , ” give even exchanging messages with the group a penal offense in Belarus . A former manager was collar . Family fellow member of Imaguru staff in exile were interrogate . Their internet site was blocked in multiple countries . Assets were wintry . And on December 2 of last year , the prison sentences of the two Colorado - founders were announce .
That same Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , Marynich ’s Belarusian recommendation pass away . Under a 2023 executive society from Lukashenko , Belarusian embassies can no longer write out or reincarnate text file for citizens abroad , effectively trapping objector in foreign nation , undocumented .
“ I ’m a stateless person , ” Marynich say . “ I have a European residence license , but without a valid recommendation , I ca n’t even practice for citizenship . I ca n’t leave Spain . I ca n’t open up a bank account . ”
Despite the circumstances , both founding father bear on their missionary work . Imaguru now operates hubs in Warsaw and Madrid , with support from European foundation . The team is also launch a campaign to hold entrepreneurship a human rightfulness and bait reenforcement through an onlinepetition .
“ They really love their body politic , ” said Liao . “ And now they can never go back . It ’s heartbreaking . I ’ve written good word letter for both of them for outside programs . I ’d do it again in a second . These are good people , and this is unjust . ”
A Global Test of Values
While Imaguru has receive institutional support in Poland and Lithuania , the Spanish government has yet to react officially to appeals . Marynich remains in oblivion , desire visibility might help switch bureaucratic spiritlessness .
TechCrunch reach the office ofMaría González Veracruz , the Secretary of commonwealth of Digitization and Artificial intelligence in Spain , but received no response at the time of publication .
“ This is clearly a political crackdown , ” aver Liao . “ popular governments should be doing everything they can to support them . ”
Gurvits agrees : “ Even next-to-last employee who once worked at Imaguru ca n’t return to Belarus . This is n’t just about two founders . It ’s about a whole community that ’s been exile for believe in innovation and freedom . ”
Marynich remains defiant .
“ We built something beautiful , ” she tell . “ Now we ’re fight down for the right to live . And we ’re not yield up . ”
