In 2013, Tatyana Marynich and Anastasiya Khamiankova opened the doors to Imaguru, a startup hub in Minsk, Belarus that would go on to launch some of Eastern Europe’s most prominent tech success stories. A decade later, they’ve been sentenced ‘in absentia’ to a combined 23 years in prison by Belarusian authorities. Their property has been seized. Their work was declared “extremist.” Marynich’s passport has expired and revoked, leaving her stranded and stateless in Spain.
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.
“What began as an attempt to silence innovation has evolved into the full criminalization of independent business,” Marynich told News over a call.
Imaguru wasn’t just Belarus’s first startup hub. It became the gravitational center of the country’s 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) and Prisma (reportedly acquired by Snapchat) can trace their roots to Imaguru’s early hackathons attended by eager young people, hoping for a better future.
“They were the main focal point of the venture community in Belarus,” said Max Gurvits, General Partner at Vitosha Venture Partners in Bulgaria, and an early mentor at Imaguru. “They brought together talent, investors, angels, ran the most significant programs—it was always a pleasure to go there.”
Another VC, US-based Marvin Liao of Rolling Fund Diaspora.vc, agrees. “They were super professional and really passionate,” he told News. “Imaguru 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.”
Their impact wasn’t just economic. Marynich’s late husband, Michael Marynich, had paid a high price for his own defiance years earlier.
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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’s decision to leave the International Finance Corporation within the World Bank and launch her own venture.
“I was forced into entrepreneurship,” she said. “Not just to survive economically, but because I believed in the same democratic values my husband had sacrificed his health for.”
“If politics fail,” she said, “then you have to create your own future. Entrepreneurs are free thinkers—and free people question power,” she said.
For the Lukashenko regime, that belief made Imaguru dangerous.
When Independence Becomes Dissent
After the 2020 elections, which were widely seen as fraudulent, 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.
Marynich joined the Coordination Council, a formal opposition body led by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. It was the final straw for the Lukashenko regime.
“She signed a declaration saying they wanted to hold free elections,’” Gurvits said. “But from that moment onward, she obviously became an enemy of the state, and anything related to her, like Imaguru, became completely forbidden.”
By 2021, the political pressure became unbearable. Imaguru’s lease was forcibly terminated by the government. As News reported at the time, masked officers raided its offices.
By 2023, the KGB had designated Imaguru an “extremist formation,” 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.
That same day, Marynich’s 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.
“I’m a stateless person,” Marynich said. “I have a European residence permit, but without a valid passport, I can’t even apply for citizenship. I can’t leave Spain. I can’t open a bank account.”
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.
“They really love their country,” said Liao. “And now they can never go back. It’s heartbreaking. I’ve written recommendation letters for both of them for international 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 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.
News contacted the office of María González Veracruz, the Secretary of state of Digitization and Artificial intelligence in Spain, but received no response at the time of publication.
“This is clearly a political crackdown,” said Liao. “Democratic governments should be doing everything they can to support them.”
Gurvits agrees: “Even junior employees who once worked at Imaguru can’t return to Belarus. This isn’t just about two founders. It’s about a whole community that’s been exiled for believing in innovation and freedom.”
Marynich remains defiant.
“We built something beautiful,” she said. “Now we’re fighting for the right to exist. And we’re not giving up.”
