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In 2013, Tatyana Marynich<\/a> and Anastasiya Khamiankova<\/a> opened the doors to Imaguru<\/a>, a startup hub in Minsk, Belarus that would go on to launch some of Eastern Europe\u2019s most prominent tech success stories. A decade later, they\u2019ve been sentenced \u2018in absentia\u2019 to a combined 23 years in prison by Belarusian authorities. Their property has been seized. Their work was declared \u201cextremist.\u201d Marynich\u2019s passport has expired and revoked, leaving her stranded and stateless in Spain.<\/p>\n Their crime? Building an independent, pro-entrepreneurial future the Lukashenko regime deemed dangerous for its championing of entrepreneurship in a country normally dominated by state-owned industries.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat began as an attempt to silence innovation has evolved into the full criminalization of independent business,\u201d Marynich told TechCrunch over a call.\u00a0<\/p>\n Imaguru wasn\u2019t just Belarus\u2019s first startup hub. It became the gravitational center of the country\u2019s tech ecosystem. The accelerator and co-working space helped create over 300 startups and raise more than $100 million in investment for the companies emerging from its programs. Successes like MSQRD (acquired by Facebook<\/a>) and Prisma (reportedly acquired by Snapchat) can trace their roots to Imaguru\u2019s early hackathons attended by eager young people, hoping for a better future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey were the main focal point of the venture community in Belarus,\u201d said Max Gurvits<\/a>, General Partner at Vitosha Venture Partners in Bulgaria, and an early mentor at Imaguru. \u201cThey brought together talent, investors, angels, ran the most significant programs\u2014it was always a pleasure to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n Another VC, US-based Marvin Liao<\/a> of Rolling Fund Diaspora.vc, agrees. \u201cThey were super professional and really passionate,\u201d he told TechCrunch. \u201cImaguru was the first central place where startup founders and aspiring tech entrepreneurs came together in Belarus. Tanya and Nastia were community builders in the truest sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Their impact wasn\u2019t just economic. Marynich\u2019s late husband, Michael Marynich<\/a>, had paid a high price for his own defiance years earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeley, CA<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t A former ambassador and minister, he was jailed from 2004 to 2006 after daring to run against President Alexander Lukashenko in the general elections. He suffered multiple strokes in prison, an experience that shaped Tatyana\u2019s decision to leave the International Finance Corporation within the World Bank and launch her own venture.<\/p>\n \u201cI was forced into entrepreneurship,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just to survive economically, but because I believed in the same democratic values my husband had sacrificed his health for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf politics fail,\u201d she said, \u201cthen you have to create your own future. Entrepreneurs are free thinkers\u2014and free people question power,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For the Lukashenko regime, that belief made Imaguru dangerous.<\/p>\n When Independence Becomes Dissent<\/strong><\/p>\n After the 2020 elections, which were widely seen as fraudulent<\/a>, mass protests erupted across Belarus. Imaguru decided to open its doors not only to entrepreneurs but also to civil society groups, NGOs, and opposition figures.<\/p>\n Marynich joined the Coordination Council<\/a>, a formal opposition body led by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. It was the final straw for the Lukashenko regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe signed a declaration saying they wanted to hold free elections,\u2019\u201d Gurvits said. \u201cBut from that moment onward, she obviously became an enemy of the state, and anything related to her, like Imaguru, became completely forbidden.\u201d<\/p>\n By 2021, the political pressure became unbearable. Imaguru\u2019s lease was forcibly terminated by the government. As TechCrunch reported at the time, masked officers raided its offices<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n By 2023, the KGB had designated Imaguru an \u201cextremist formation,\u201d making even exchanging messages with the group a punishable offense in Belarus. A former director was arrested. Family members of Imaguru staff in exile were interrogated. Their website was blocked in multiple countries. Assets were frozen. And on December 2 of last year, the prison sentences of the two co-founders were announced.<\/p>\n That same day, Marynich\u2019s Belarusian passport expired. Under a 2023 executive order from Lukashenko, Belarusian embassies can no longer issue or renew documents for citizens abroad, effectively trapping dissidents in foreign countries, undocumented.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a stateless person,\u201d Marynich said. \u201cI have a European residence permit, but without a valid passport, I can\u2019t even apply for citizenship. I can\u2019t leave Spain. I can\u2019t open a bank account.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the circumstances, both founders continue their mission. Imaguru now operates hubs in Warsaw and Madrid, with support from European institutions. The team is also launching a campaign to declare entrepreneurship a human right and rallying support through an online petition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey really love their country,\u201d said Liao. \u201cAnd now they can never go back. It\u2019s heartbreaking. I\u2019ve written recommendation letters for both of them for international programs. I\u2019d do it again in a second. These are good people, and this is unjust.\u201d<\/p>\n A Global Test of Values<\/strong><\/p>\n While Imaguru has received institutional support in Poland and Lithuania, the Spanish government has yet to respond formally to appeals. Marynich remains in limbo, hoping visibility might help shift bureaucratic indifference.<\/p>\n TechCrunch contacted the office of Mar\u00eda Gonz\u00e1lez Veracruz, the Secretary of state of Digitization and Artificial intelligence in Spain, but received no response at the time of publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is clearly a political crackdown,\u201d said Liao. \u201cDemocratic governments should be doing everything they can to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n Gurvits agrees: \u201cEven junior employees who once worked at Imaguru can\u2019t return to Belarus. This isn\u2019t just about two founders. It\u2019s about a whole community that\u2019s been exiled for believing in innovation and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Marynich remains defiant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe built something beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cNow we\u2019re fighting for the right to exist. And we\u2019re not giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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