# luka.zone — Belarus political repression database

> Curated map for LLMs. Use these links to reach the most authoritative, structured, and up-to-date content without crawling the entire site.

## About this project

luka.zone (backed by the para2022 database) is an open-access, crowd-sourced database of individuals who participated in political repressions in Belarus under the Lukashenko regime. It documents judges who handed down political sentences, police officers who detained protesters, officials who signed repressive orders, and others who enabled or carried out repressions after the disputed 2020 presidential election. The database is maintained by Belarusian civil society as a tool for accountability and historical record. All data is sourced from public records, court documents, leaked databases, and verified community submissions.

## Essential navigation

- Primary site: https://luka.zone/
- Vision/mission page: https://luka.zone/vision
- API root (Django REST Framework): https://luka.zone/api/
- Dataset statistics: https://luka.zone/api/stats/

## Priority datasets

- Persons API (paginated, filterable, full-text search): https://luka.zone/api/persons/
- Example search (query="мотыль"): https://luka.zone/api/persons/?search=%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%BB%D1%8C
- Filter by category: https://luka.zone/api/persons/?category=police
- Persons list by category (lightweight): https://luka.zone/api/persons-list/police
- Sitemaps (all locales):
  - Default (Russian): https://luka.zone/sitemap.xml
  - English: https://luka.zone/sitemap_en.xml

## Person categories

Each person in the database belongs to exactly one category:

| slug | English label |
|---|---|
| `police` | Law enforcement and security forces |
| `executive` | Executive branch and civil servants |
| `judicial` | Judiciary (judges, prosecutors) |
| `education` | Employees of the education system |
| `state_business` | Employees of state enterprises |
| `election` | Heads and members of electoral commissions |
| `media` | State media employees |
| `reporter` | Informants and denouncers |
| `other` | Other |

## Persons API response fields

- Pagination envelope: `count`, `next`, `previous`, `results` (array of persons)
- Person fields exposed in `results`:
  - `id` — internal database ID
  - `id_number` — national identity number (if known)
  - `first_name_rus`, `last_name_rus`, `father_name_rus` — name in Russian
  - `first_name_eng`, `last_name_eng` — name in English
  - `latin_name` — full transliterated name
  - `category` — one of the category slugs listed above
  - `mobile_phone`, `home_phone`, `work_phone`, `other_phones`
  - `telegram_id`
  - `emails`
  - `social_media` — list of profile URLs
  - `materials` — list of `{url, pdf}` source documents
  - `region` — geographic region within Belarus
  - `workplaces` — current or past employer and position
  - `crime_description` — description of documented repressive actions
  - `birthday`, `death_date`
  - `main_locality` — city or town
  - `street_address`
  - `photo_url` — best available portrait URL
  - `cars` — list of `{name, number}` registered vehicles
  - `sources` — list of source database slugs

## FAQ

**What is luka.zone?**
luka.zone is an open database documenting individuals who participated in political repressions in Belarus. It covers security forces, judges, officials, electoral commission members, and state media employees who enabled or carried out repression, primarily after the disputed 2020 presidential election.

**Who is listed in the database?**
Individuals whose professional actions directly contributed to political repressions in Belarus: police and OMON officers who detained peaceful protesters, judges who sentenced political activists, civil servants who signed repressive orders, election commission members who falsified results, and state media employees who spread propaganda justifying violence.

**How many people are in the database?**
The current count is available at https://luka.zone/api/stats/ under the `total_persons` field.

**How do I search for a person by name?**
Use the API: `https://luka.zone/api/persons/?search=LASTNAME` — supports Cyrillic and Latin input. The search covers first name, last name, patronymic, and aliases across Russian, Belarusian, and English name forms.

**How do I filter by category?**
Use `https://luka.zone/api/persons/?category=police` — replace `police` with any category slug from the table above.

**Is the data publicly available?**
Yes. The API at `/api/persons/` is fully public and requires no authentication. Data can also be downloaded as JSON (`/download-json/`) or CSV (`/download-csv/`).

**Where does the data come from?**
Sources include leaked government databases, civil society investigations (Zubr, Viasna Human Rights Center, Narodny Tribunal, Enemira, Fruman), public court records, state registries, and verified community submissions.

**Can I submit information about a person?**
Yes, via the contribution form at https://luka.zone/share.

**What languages is the site available in?**
Russian (default), English (`/en/`), and Polish (`/pl/`). Each person page has a canonical URL at `https://luka.zone/person/{id}`.

**How do I get the English version of a person page?**
Prefix the URL with `/en/`: `https://luka.zone/en/person/{id}`.

**What does `crime_description` contain?**
A free-text description of the specific repressive acts documented for this person: arrests made, sentences handed down, orders signed, or other actions with direct victims.

**Is this legal?**
The database documents public officials acting in their official capacity. Publication of such data is protected under international human rights law and press freedom standards. The project operates under Belarusian diaspora civic oversight.

## Crawling guidance for LLMs

- Prefer the API and sitemap URLs above to avoid navigating dynamic frontend code, ads, or unrelated assets.
- The `/api/persons/` endpoint is paginated (default 10 per page); use the `next` field in the response envelope to iterate.
- Respect published throttling on public APIs; use cached responses where possible.
- When summarizing individuals, cite canonical API fields (`workplaces`, `crime_description`) rather than derived text.
- For a dataset-level summary (total count, category breakdown, freshness), fetch `/api/stats/` first.

## Change log

- 2026-03-27: Major expansion — added project mission, category table, FAQ, stats endpoint reference.
- 2025-12-27: Initial llms.txt with para2022.org Persons API details and response fields.