In 2013, Tatyana Marynich and Anastasiya Khamianankova opened the doors for Imaguru, an initial center in Minsk, Belarus that would continue to begin some of the most prominent stories of Eastern European technology success. A decade later, they were sentenced to ‘absent’ to 23 years in prison combined by the Belarusan authorities. Their property is caught. Their work was declared “extremist”. Marynich’s passport has expired and revoked, leaving it blocked and stateless in Spain.
Their crime? Building an independent, pro-entrepreneurial future, Lukashenko’s regime was considered dangerous for its championship of entrepreneurship in a country normally dominated by state-owned industries.
“What began as an attempt to silence innovation has evolved into complete criminalization of independent business,” Marynich Techcrunch told a call.
Imagur was not just the first center of Belarus. It became the gravitational center of the country’s technology ecosystem. The accelerator and cooperation space helped create over 300 startups and collect more than $ 100 million in investment for companies coming out of its programs. Successes like MSQRD (won by Facebook) and Prism (reported to have been won by Snapchat) can trace their roots in the early HACKATHONS of Imaguru, followed by thirsty youth, hoping for a better future.
“They were the main central point of the community of entrepreneurship in Belarus,” said Max Gurvits, Vitosha Venture Partners in Bulgaria, and an early mentor in Imaguru. “They united talent, investors, angels, led the most significant programs – it was always a pleasure to go there.”
Another VC, the US -based Marvin Liao Rolling Diaspora.vc, agrees. “They were super professionals and truly passionate,” he told Techcrunch. “Imaguru was the first central country where the founders of the start and the aspirating technology entrepreneurs gathered in Belarus. Tanya and Nastia were community builders in the most true sense.”
Their impact was not just economic. Marynich’s late husband, Michael Marynich, had paid a high price for his opposition years ago.
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A former ambassador and minister, he was imprisoned from 2004 to 2006 after daring to run against President Alexander Lukashenko in the general election. He suffered numerous strokes in prison, an experience that formed Tatyana’s decision to leave the International Finance Corporation within the World Bank and start its venture.
“I was forced to undertake ventures,” she said. “Not only to survive economically, but because I believed in the same democratic values my husband had sacrificed his health.”
“If politics fails,” she said, “then you have to create your future. Entrepreneurs are free thinkers – and free people ask power,” she said.
For the Lukashenko regime, that faith made the imaguru dangerous.
When independence becomes opponent
After the 2020 elections, which were widely seen as fraudulent, massive protests explode through Belarus. Imaguru decided to open its doors not only for entrepreneurs, but also for civil society groups, NGOs and opposition figures.
Marynich joined the Coordination Council, an official opposition body led by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. It was the last straw for the Lukashenko regime.
“She signed a statement saying they wanted to hold free elections,” “Gurvits said.” But from that moment on, she has undoubtedly become an enemy of the state, and everything related to her, as the image, became completely forbidden. “
By 2021, political pressure became unbearable. Imaguru’s rent was forcibly discontinued by the government. As Techcrunch reported at the time, masked officers raided its offices.
By 2023, the KGB had appointed Imaguru an “extremist formation”, even making the exchange of messages with the group a punishable work in Belarus. A former director was arrested. Members of the exiled image staff family were questioned. Their website was blocked in many places. The assets were frozen. And on December 2 last year, prison sentences of the two co -founders were announced.
That same day, Marynich’s Belarusian passport expired. According to a 2023 executive order from Lukashenko, the Belarusian embassies can no longer issue or renew documents for citizens abroad, effectively blocking dissidents in foreign countries without documents.
“I’m a stateless person,” Marynich said. “I have a European residence permit, but without a valid passport, nor can I apply for citizenship. I can’t leave Spain. I can’t open a bank account.”
Despite the circumstances, the two founders continue their mission. Imaguru now operates in Warsaw and Madrid, with support from European institutions. The team is also launching a campaign to announce the entrepreneur a support of human rights and collecting support through an online petition.
“They really love their country,” Liao said. “And now they can never come back. It’S’SSIGHT ASSOCIATED. I have written letters of recommendation for both for international programs. I would do it again in a second. These are good people, and that’s unfair.”
A global test of values
While Imaguru has received institutional support in Poland and Lithuania, the Spanish government should not yet officially respond to complaints. Marynich remains in limbo, hoping that visibility can help relocate bureaucratic indifference.
Techcrunch contacted the office of María González Veracruz, Secretary of State of Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in Spain, but received no response at the time of publication.
“This is clearly a political blow,” Liao said. “Democratic governments must do everything they can to support them.”
Gurvits agrees: “Even the new employees who once worked on images cannot be returned to Belarus. This is not just for two founders. It is a whole community that has been interned to believe in innovation and freedom.”
Marynich remains unclear.
“We built something beautiful,” she said. “Now we are fighting for the right of existence. And we will not give up.”
