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Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 December 2023)

Last update: 18 December 2023
Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 December 2023)

As of 15 December 2023, at least 148 cultural figures, including not less than 32 People of the Word, were behind bars.

A criminal case was opened against journalist, historian, writer and human rights defender Uladzimir Chilmanovič. 

Artist Uladzimir Lykšyn was detained in a criminal case against the organisers of the Pismo.bel, an online service that facilitated electronic letters for political prisoners. 

The Interior Ministry of Belarus added human rights activist, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aleś Bialiacki to the List of Belarus Citizens, Foreign Citizens or Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activities. 

Writer Siarhiej Antonaŭ was detained and spent three days in a detention centre. 

Cultural event organiser, Belarusian language populariser Kastuś Tenc was sentenced to 15 days of arrest. 

Aliaksiej Siemiancotsoŭ, associate professor of the Department of Communication Design at the Faculty of Socio-Cultural Communications of the Belarusian State University, was detained.

The former director of the Mahilioŭ History Museum, Aliaksiej Baciukoŭ, journalist Barys Vyrvič, the former professor of the Mahilioŭ State University, writer Aliaksandr Ahiejeŭ, and PhD in pedagogical sciences Ihar Šarucha were detained.

The Pahonia (Pursuit) creative community, which existed within the Belarusian Union of Artists, was liquidated on orders from the Ministry of Culture.

The property of the Padarosk estate, which housed the museum of the Belarusian nobility, was seized. 

The Svislač Gymnasium No. 1, named after the national hero of Belarus, Kastuś Kalinoŭski, was renamed. It will be named after the WWII underground resistance fighter Praskoŭja Vasilenka.

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

1. On 1 December 2023, it became known that a criminal case was initiated against journalist, historian, writer and human rights defender Uladzimir Chilmanovič under Art. 361.4 of the Criminal Code (engaging in extremist activity): Part 1 (recruitment, other involvement of a person in extremist activity, training, as well as other facilitation of extremist activity), as well as Part 2 (the same actions committed repeatedly or by a group of persons through conspiracy, or an official using official powers). On 1 December 2023, police raided the apartment of Uladzimir Chilmanovič’s wife in Hrodna, where he lived between 2014 and 2021. Police officers took a computer processor, 25 books, a music CD, collectable postage stamps, envelopes, postcards, booklets, badges, and newspapers. They also seized household appliances (TV, refrigerator, washing machine). Uladzimir Chilmanovič headed several educational projects, co-edited a series of brochures for teachers, “Through Education to Civil Society” (Szczecin, 2001-2006), authored the “Belarusian calendar guide” (Vilnius, 2007), books about Belarusian material and spiritual values “Belarusian Gold” (2014). He is a member of the Union of Belarusian Writers. Uladzimir Chilmanovič has lived outside Belarus since 2021.

2. On 8 December 2023, it became known that artist Uladzimir Lykšyn was detained with his brother Aliaksandr Lykšyn in a criminal case. They are accused of participating in protests and being involved in the Pismo.bel, an online service through which people could send letters to political prisoners

3. On 8 December 2023, the Interior Ministry of Belarus entered human rights activist, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aleś Bialiacki (Ales Bialiatski) to the List of Belarus Citizens, Foreign Citizens or Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activities. When political prisoners get on the “extremists list,” their conditions of detention significantly worsen.

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

1. On 5 December 2023, Siarhiej Antonaŭ, journalist, correspondent of the Belarusian newspaper Pryvatny Detektyŭ, author of several works in the international literary series “Universe Metro 2033”, was detained in Mahilioŭ and spent three days in a detention centre. Security agents came to Siarhiej Antonaŭ’s workplace and home and seized all the equipment. The writer was interrogated until midnight. Agents suggested that he confess to performing work for the mogilev.media website. Otherwise, they would send him to a KGB pre-trial jail. After that, Siarhiej Antonaŭ was placed in a detention centre for two days. Upon release, he immediately fled Belarus.

2. On 7 December 2023, cultural events organiser and host Michail Mańkievič was detained in Hrodna for allegedly distributing extremist materials. 

3. On 8 December 2023, Kastuś Tenc, a Belarusian State University of Transport student, cultural events organiser, populariser of the Belarusian language, was detained in Homiel and sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest under Art. 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (dissemination of extremist materials). 

4. On 8 December 2023, wood carver Aliaksandr Macura was detained in Mijory, Viciebsk region.

5. On 15 December 2023, it became known about the detention in Minsk of Aliaksiej Siemiancoŭ, an associate professor of the Department of Communication Design, Faculty of Socio-Cultural Communications at the Belarusian State University. Aliaksiej Siemiancoŭ is a member of the Union of Designers of Belarus. He is accused of participating in four peaceful protest marches in 2020.

6. On 15 December 2023, in Mahilioŭ, police detained the former director of the Mahilioŭ History Museum, Aliaksiej Baciukoŭ, journalist Barys Vyrvič, former Mahilioŭ State University professor and writer Aliaksandr Ahiejeŭ, and PhD in pedagogical sciences Ihar Šarucha.

III. Trials and arrests for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols

1. The Polack City and District Court sentenced a manager to 15 days of administrative arrest for the image of a white-red-white flag in his Telegram channel.

2. In Hrodna, a person was detained and convicted for allegedly spreading extremist materials. Police found on his social media pages a photo with white-red-white flags, taken on 25 March 2018, during the authorised rally and open-air concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic.

3. On 12 December 2023, police in Červień, Minsk region, detained a man who, in 2020, hoisted a Belarusian national white-red-white flag on the roof of his privately owned house.

IV. Conditions in places of detention, tortures of prisoners

1. Andrej Pačobut (Andrzej Poczobut) has been deprived of parcels and meetings with family members in the penal colony in Navapolack since he started serving his term. Andrej Pačobut is an essayist, journalist, publicist, blogger, poet, songwriter, and musician. He authored the 2013 book System Białoruś (System Belarus), commissioned by a Polish publishing house. It raises issues specific not only to Belarus but also to the countries of the post-Soviet space. On 8 February 2023, the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced Andrej Pačobut to eight years in a medium-security penal colony, finding him guilty under Art. 361 (3) of the Criminal Code (calls for restrictive measures (sanctions) aimed at harming national security), Art. 130 (3) of the Criminal Code (inciting national, religious and other social enmity or discord).

On 26 May, the Supreme Court rejected in a closed-door session the appeal from journalist, essayist and poet Andrej (Andrzej) Pačobut and upheld his sentence.

On 23 June, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Andrej Pačobut to the “List of Belarusian citizens, foreign citizens or stateless persons involved in extremist activities.”

2. Local history activist Uladzimir Hundar is in solitary confinement in prison No. 4 in Mahilioŭ without time in the open air. Uladzimir is missing one leg but cannot walk with crutches because of worn-off rubber tips. The prison has failed to provide spare crutches.

V. Repressions against cultural figures’ family members

On 1 December 2023, in Navapolack, 69-year-old Anatol Trubkin was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. He has been behind bars since 30 November 2023 despite being visually impaired, suffering from diabetes, and having survived a stroke. Anatol Trubkin was detained on 30 November 2023 in a raid on the Navapolack apartment where his son, researcher and populariser of Belarusian history and culture, Aliaksiej Trubkin, lived with him there before fleeing Belarus in 2006 due to political persecution. 

VI. Repression against cultural organisations 

1. On 11 December 2023, it became known that the Pahonia (Pursuit) creative community, which existed within the Belarusian Union of Artists, was liquidated on orders from the Ministry of Culture. Established in 1990, the group aimed “to develop national art, preserve and multiply artistic assets of the cultural and historical heritage to awaken the national self-awareness of the people.” The community united 50 artists. The works of community members were repeatedly removed from exhibitions by cultural officials. The union leadership previously expelled the political prisoner Hienadź Drazdoŭ, who headed the community between 2011 and 2016. In May 2023, the Minsk City Court sentenced Hienadź Drazdoŭ to three years in prison under Art. 342 (1) of the Criminal Code (organising and preparing actions that grossly violate public order or actively participating in them) and Art. 361 (4) of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activities).

2. On 14 December 2023, it became known about the judicial liquidation of the Association of Lithuanians “Gervėčiai Club” in Hrodna. The 394 members-strong organisation aimed to strengthen understanding between the peoples of Belarus and Lithuania.

3. On 13 December 2023, the Veršy cultural space and bar team announced the closure on their Instagram page. Before this announcement, Vieršy was closed for two weeks allegedly due to technical reasons.

4. On 14 December 2023, officials seized the property of the Padarosk estate, which housed the Belarusian Nobility Museum. The estate will be deeded to the culture department of the Vaŭkavysk District Executive Committee, as was the case until 2013. On 4 September 2023, the Vaŭkavysk District Court ruled in the Vaŭkavysk Department of Culture vs philanthropist Paval Padkarytaŭ lawsuit to cancel the 2013 contract regarding the purchase of the estate in Padarosk over alleged “non-fulfilment of the contract terms to enter the objects into economic circulation.” The estate in Padarosk was formerly a noble estate, which the philanthropist has restored as a museum of the Belarusian nobility and a tourist centre for eight years. Paval Padkarytaŭ plans to appeal the ruling in a higher court.

VII. Repressions in the book sector

On 6 December 2023, the Baranavičy City and District Court designated Aliaksandr Tataranka’s book Bitter Years: The Tragedy of Western Belarus 1944-1954 as “extremist.” Aliaksandr Tataranka is also the author of Forbidden Memory: Western Belarus in Documents and Facts: 1921-1954.

VIII. Repressions in the language field

Under Lukašenka’s order, the abolition of the Latin Belarusian alphabet from the names of geographical objects in Belarus must be completed by 18 December 2023.

IX. De-Belarusisation, falsification of Belarusian history

On 6 December 2023, the Svislač Gymnasium No. 1, named after the national hero of Belarus, Kastuś Kalinoŭski, was renamed. It will be named after the WWII underground resistance fighter Praskoŭja Vasilenka. Gymnasium No. 1 in Svislač is one of the oldest educational institutions in Belarus, in operation since 18 September 1804.

X. Dismissals of cultural figures

The contract, expiring on 1 January 2024, has not been extended with the Vietka Folk Art Museum director, Piotr Сalko.