République populaire biélorusse
The case started with the arrest of the editor Piotar Iljučonak on February 17, 1930. During the spring and summer of 1930 108 people were arrested. At the beginning the GPU saw Vaclaw Lastowski (former prime minister of the Belarusian People's Republic), Alaksandar Ćvikievič and Arkadź Smolič (former agriculture minister of the Belarusian People's Republic), as leaders of the organization. Later Alaksandar Adamovič (a Belarusian nationalist communist politician), Anton Balicki (statesman and writer), Piotar Iljučonak and Dźmitry Pryščepaŭ were viewed as such. People like the prominent poets Janka Kupała and Jakub Kołas or the first president of the Belarusian Science Academy Usievaład Ihnatoŭski were at certain stages accused of being members of the ULB.