Admin of major Lady Gaga fan community turns out to be a Belarusian political prisoner

The administrator of a Lady Gaga fan community turned out to be a Belarusian political prisoner. After a long absence from social media, he wrote: "Sorry, I was literally in prison."

Kiryl Nhuen said he was detained in early 2024 for participating in protests. At first, the young man was sentenced to one and a half years in a penal colony, charged with "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order." Then a new case was opened against him, increasing the total sentence to two and a half years. Human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.

The Gaga Daily community has more than 2 million subscribers combined across X, Instagram, and Facebook. Kiryl had been administering the Gaga Daily account since 2009. While he was behind bars, his friends ran the account.

Lady Gaga herself read the page. The singer said: "When I want to see what my fans are saying, I go to Gaga Daily."

Initially, many Russian and international media reported that Kiryl was Russian — however, this was misinformation: the young man was born and raised in Belarus and holds Belarusian citizenship.

Kiryl also shared on social media that he heard the single Abracadabra from Lady Gaga's latest album on the radio in prison. Another former political prisoner, Eduard Palchys, explained: prisons play Belarusian and Russian radio, and the American singer's hit was on "24/7."