Original name:
Vilnius, Lithuania
04.06.1988
Anton Gadimovich Motolko, a well-known Belarusian blogger and activist, was born in Minsk, BSSR.
After graduating from the local gymnasium in 2004, he studied at the Belarusian State Academy of Communications and later at the Institute of Entrepreneurship.
Motolko has reported for leading publications and collaborated with the online resource TUT.BY, capturing events from competitions, concerts and many other events.
In 2015, Anton was honored with the Civil Society Champions award in the Journalist of the Year category.
However, the following year he ran into legal difficulties when he sued Belteleradiocompany for using his photos of the northern lights without his permission. Unfortunately for Anton, the court decided that such images could not be copyrighted.
In 2018, he was involved in organizing a gala event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic outside the Bolshoi Theatre.
In addition to his professional activities, Motolko is actively involved in the online platform “Convenient City”. He has initiated several campaigns that have generated a wide public response, including a campaign against military parades in Minsk.
His interest in city beautification led to the creation of a Telegram channel “MotolkoPomogi”, which initially dealt with the problems of landscaping in Belarusian cities, but later began to cover the political life of the country as well.
In March 2021, the Minsk Investigative Committee authorities started criminal proceedings against Anton Motolko, accusing him of “incitement to hostility against state and law enforcement officials,” “forming an extremist group,” and “striving for actions threatening state security.” In addition, according to the Investigative Committee, Motolko has been linked to “mass riots” and “planning actions disturbing public peace.”
On March 23, 2021, Partizanski District Court of Minsk declared the Telegram channel belonging to Anton extremist.
By March 2023, two of Motolko’s internet projects had also received extremist status in Belarus.