Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (March 15–31, 2023)

Minsk City Court continues the trial of Symbal.by shop founder and culture manager Paviel Bielavus behind closed doors.

Researchers Valeryja Kasciuhova and Tacciana Kuzina got ten years of imprisonment in a penal colony of a general type.

Litesound music band members Uladzimir and Dzmitry Karakin and their mother, Volha Krajko, received 2.5 years of imprisonment in home confinement. At the same time, their father, Jury Karakin, got three (3) years of home confinement.

Prosecutor Aliaksandr Karol appealed the sentencing of Nobel Prize winner, writer and human rights defender Aleś Bialiacki. He believes that ten years in prison is a too soft sentence and demands to increase this term to 12 years.

Minsk City Court started a closed trial of five people who, in September 2022, hung the national flags of Belarus and Ukraine in the streets of Minsk.

The monument of Larysa Hienijuš, a poet, civic activist and GULAG prisoner, was dismounted in Zelva.

I. Politically motivated criminal cases against cultural workers, authors and performers

1. Minsk City Court continues the trial of Symbal.by shop founder and culture manager Paviel Bielavus behind closed doors. The trial started on 20 February 2023. Paviel is facing charges under four articles of the Criminal Code: Article 342 (organization and preparation of actions which gravely violate public order or active participation in them), Article 361 (appeals to actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus), Article 361-1 (establishment of an extremist formation or participation in it), and Article 356 (treason). The prosecutors claim that Paviel Bielavus “under the disguise of cultural and historical development… disseminated the ideas of Belarusian nationalism aimed at changing the state power in Belarus. He stimulated hostility of his countrymen towards the homeland in various publicly available social networks and on the websites” and “by his criminal actions… had been threatening the external and internal security of the state for ten years”. Paviel Bielavus has remained behind bars since 23 December 2021.
2. On 17 March 2023, Minsk City Court sentenced researchers Valeryja Kasciuhova and Tacciana Kuzina to 10 years of imprisonment, each in a general-type penal colony. The researchers were found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 357 of the Criminal Code (support to actions aiming to seize power by unconstitutional means), Part 3 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code (calls for actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus) and Part 3 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (inciting social hatred).
3. On 22 March 2023, the Saviecki District Court of Minsk convicted members of the Litesound music band and their family members under two articles in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus: participation in protests (Part 1 of Art. 342) and illegal actions concerning firearms, ammunition and explosives (Part 2 of Art. 295). Litesound music band members Uladzimir and Dzmitry Karakin and their mother, Volha Krajko, received 2.5 years of imprisonment in home confinement. Their father, Jury Karakin, got three years of home confinement. Home confinement means restriction of freedom without being sent to a correctional facility. Under this type of restriction, a person must have a job, visit the police station for regular check-ins, and receive control visits by police at home and work. The Karakin brothers were detained on 13 October 2022. In January 2023, it became known that Jury Karakin had suffered a stroke in detention. He was allowed to stay under house arrest. The family remained in the pre-trial detention centre on Valadarski street in Minsk. The Litesound band, founded by the Karakin brothers in Minsk in 2005, represented Belarus at the 2012 Eurovision Song contest.
4. On 28 March 2023, Homiel Regional Court sentenced poet and songwriter Aliaksiej Iljinčyk to 2.5 years of imprisonment in a general-type colony. Aliaksiej Iljinčyk was detained on 18 August 2022. He was charged under Part 2 of Art. 367 (defamation of the president), Part 2 of Art. 368 (insult of the president) and Part 1 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement to hostility). The prosecutor requested a 3-year prison term. Aliaksiej is the author of the books “From Leshki to Leshego” (2000), “FAS”, (2000), “Happy Man” (2002), “Leshiki forever! Part 1” (2002), “You know…” (2004).
5. We learned on 29 March 2023 that prosecutor Aliaksandr Karol appealed the sentencing of Viasna human rights centre activists. The prosecutor considers the sentencing of human rights defenders by the Leninski District Court of Minsk on 3 March 2023 too soft. In particular, he asks to review the 10-year sentence of Aleś Bialiacki, a Nobel Prize winner and a well-known writer and human rights defender, and to increase it to 12 years in prison. In the politically motivated trial were also sentenced other human rights defenders. Valiancin Stefanovič got nine years in prison, while the prosecutor is now asking for 11 years; Uladzimir Labkovič got seven years in prison, while the prosecutor is requesting nine years. Human rights defenders were convicted for their activities in the protection of human rights and for helping the repressed on trumped-up charges – Part 4 of Art. 228 (smuggling by an organized group) and Part 2 of Art. 342 (financing of group actions that grossly violate public order) of the Criminal Code.

II. Politically motivated administrative detentions and arrests of cultural workers, authors and performers

1. On 13 March 2023, former press secretary of Janka Kupala National Drama Theatre, Mikalai Zajac, was detained in Minsk. He was charged with ‘petty hooliganism’ under Art. 19.1 of the Administrative Code and received 12 days in jail. He was expected to be released on 25 March, but another administrative trial in the Leninski District Court of Minsk added 14 more days to his administrative arrest.
2. On 22 March 2023, the lead singer of Nia Varta band in Mazyr, Fiodar Čarankoŭ, was detained following a search in his flat and received 15 days of administrative arrest. While detaining him, police forced their way into the flat, knocking out its doors.
3. In Polack, on 29-31 March, 11 Polack National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve workers were searched and detained. The list of detainees included the former director of the museum Tamara Džumantajeva, philosopher Ihar Bortnik, an unnamed electrician of the museum, photographers Kiryl Smaliakoŭ and Ihar Supranionak, the head of restoration workshops Aksana Šafran, worker of Weaving Museum Aksana Koziel, workers of Saint Sophia Cathedral Volha Filimonava and Nadzieja Jazmier, ex-worker of the museum Alena Chodzikava. The former director of the museum Tamara Džumantajeva, photographer Kiryl Smaliakoŭ and the museum’s electrician were sentenced to 15 days in jail. The PhD in philosophy Ihar Bortnik remains in the Navapolack pre-trial detention.

ІІІ. Court hearings and arrests for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols

1. On 3 March 2023, Hlybokaje District Court sentenced the entrepreneur Jury Tatarynovič to a 2590 BYN (1026 USD) fine under Part 1 of Art.24.23 of the Administrative Code (violation of the procedures to organize and conduct mass gatherings). He posted a picture with the Ukrainian flag and ‘Pahonia’ Belarusian national coat of arms on his Facebook account. He also posted a white-red-white national flag.
2. On 16 March 2023, Astraviec District Court sentenced activist Paviel Dubaŭ to 1.5 years of prison in a general-type colony under Art.370 of the Criminal Code (desecration of state symbols). The worker of a logistical company posted a comment in the Belarusian language in the corporate online chat claiming that the Belarusian flag was white-red-white and the current state flag symbolized “a sunrise over marshes”.
3. On 20 March 2023, Minsk City Court started a closed-door criminal trial of five people who, in September 2022, hung big national flags of Belarus and Ukraine on a building on Lesia Ukrainka Street in Minsk. Dzianis Varozaŭ, Viačaslaŭ Panciušenka, Volha Cierach, Uladzimir Lavor and Kaciaryna Zareckaja face charges under Part 3 of Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code (creation or participation in an “extremist group”) and Part 2 of Art. 361-4 of the Criminal Code (assisting in extremist activities). Two weeks after their detention, the Ministry of Internal Affairs declared the channel on Zello online messenger, where the group communicated before their act, an “extremist group”.

IV. Conditions in places of detention

On 28 March 2023, it became known that the administration of the all-female prison in Homiel placed Maryia Kaliesnikava into a strictly regulated cell (PKT). This cell, equivalent to a “prison inside a prison”, is meant for the inmates who violate the order. The rights of such inmates are severely restricted. They are entitled to just one parcel or a small package per 6 months, and their daily walk is limited to 30 minutes.

V. Repressions in the book and publishing sector

On 16 March 2023, Dobruš District Court designated the “Adysieja kapitana BNR” book by Anatol Hatoŭčyc as “extremist”. This documentary novel is based on the memoirs of the Belarusian national movement activist Cimoch Vostrykaŭ, who lived in Homiel after serving time in Stalin’s GULAG camps.

VI. Destruction of memorial sites that are significant for Belarusian culture

On 30 March 2023, the monument of Larysa Hienijuš, a poet, civic activist and GULAG prisoner, was dismounted in her native town of Zelva. Journalists from Belarusian Radio Racja learned about it from her grandson Michaś Hienijuš. He said: “the monument was dismounted under cover of the night and brought somewhere else. I don’t understand why this happened. It looks very strange to me. Since even during the Soviet times, her books and poems were officially published, she received honoraria and was invited to be a member of the Union of Writers. And now, the monument just disappeared overnight”. The sculptor who made the monument is Michaś Ińkoŭ. The memorial was unveiled near the Orthodox church in Zelva in 2003 and received an official blessing from the the-then head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Philaret. In 2023, the pro-Russian activist Volha Bondarava demanded to dismount the statue. Although the Zelva district executive committee initially rejected her request, the monument got dismounted.