As of 31 January 2024, at least 158 cultural figures, including not less than 35 People of the Word, were behind bars.
Photographer Aliaksandr Vasiukovič was sentenced to three years in home confinement.
The Office of the Prosecutor General opened criminal cases against writer and journalist Siarhiej Dubaviec.
The Investigative Committee launched an investigation within the framework of special proceedings against independent researchers and thinkers.
A criminal case was opened against the Nizkiz music band members.
Photographer and documentary filmmaker Aliaksandr Ziankoŭ was sentenced to three years in a minimum-security penal colony under Part 3 of Article 361.1 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation).
Aksana Jučkavič, a poetess, organiser of cultural events, journalist, and author of the collection of children’s poems “St. Nicholas, Come to Us!”, was detained.
Democratic activist and book distributor Barys Chamajda was detained.
Tacciana Sieviaryniec, a teacher and the mother of a political prisoner, was fined 5400 BYN (1653 USD).
Dzmitry Harelik, director of the puppet theatre in Homiel, was tried under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (dissemination of extremist materials).
The Ministry of Information suspended the operation of Roman Cymbieraŭ’s independent publishing house for one month.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Minsk, the Youth Theatre cancelled the premiere of Clara Was Here, a play about the Nazi crimes against Jews.
I. Politically motivated criminal cases against cultural workers, authors and performers
1. On 18 January, Minsk’s Frunzienski District Court sentenced photographer Aliaksandr Vasiukovič to three years of home confinement under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organising and preparing actions that grossly violate public order or actively participating in them).
2. On 23 January, the Prosecutor General’s Office initiated criminal proceedings against writer and journalist Siarhiej Dubaviec. He is charged with violating the law on fighting extremism, rehabilitation of Nazism and denial of the genocide of the Belarusian people under Art. 369.1, Part 1, Art. 130, Part 1, Art. 367, Part 1, Art. 361.1, Part 1, Art. 130.2, Part 1, Art. 130.1 of the Criminal Code. Siarhiej Dubaviec is the author of the books Exercises (1991), The Russian Book (1997), The Diary of a Private Person (1998), Vostraja Brama (Sharp Gate) (2005), Poems (2007), How? (2009), “Workshop. The Story of One Miracle” (2012), Errata: It Happens What It is Called (2013), A Blue Ship is Sailing in the Blue Sea” (2014), The Devil is Harnessed to a Plow (2018), “Tanta Morescas: the Story of One Process (2019).
3. On 23 January, the Minsk Regional Court rejected the appeal from Rehijanalnaja Hazeta editor Aliaksandr Mancevič and upheld the district court ruling. On 3 November 2023, Aliaksandr Mancevič was sentenced to four years in a penal colony and a 14,800 BYN ($4,530) fine for discrediting the Republic of Belarus under Article 369.1 of the Criminal Code.
4. On 25 January 2024, it became known that the Investigative Committee launched an investigation within the framework of special proceedings against independent researchers and thinkers, namely: political scientist Ryhor Astapienia, sociologist Filip Bikanaŭ, political analyst Aliaksandr Dabravolski, journalist and political commentator, author of the books “Accents of Liberty” (2009) and “Seven Lean Years” (2014) Yury Drakachrust, director of the Political Sphere Institute, political scientist Andrej Kazakievič, political scientist and translator Aliaksandr Lahviniec, journalist and researcher Hanna Liubakova, researcher Maryia Rohava, political scientist Alesia Rudnik, sociologist Natallia Rabava, political scientist Paval Usaŭ, political scientist Tacciana Čulickaja, political scientist Kaciaryna Šmacina, philosopher, director of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies Piotr Rudkoŭski. Special proceedings are applied against the accused persons outside the Republic of Belarus who evade appearing before the body conducting the criminal proceedings.
5. It became known on 29 January that authorities had opened a criminal case against the musicians of the band Nizkiz. The charges the musicians are facing are yet to be understood. Vocalist and songwriter Aliaksandr Iljin, bass guitarist Siarhiej Kulša and drummer Dzmitry Chaliaŭkin were detained on 5 January. The administrative trial of the musicians took place at Mahilioŭ’s Leninski District Court on 8 January. They were accused of distributing extremist materials under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The outcome of the trial remains unknown. On 10 January, the band’s soloist, Aliaksandr Iljin, stood another administrative trial under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences.
6. On 30 January, the Minsk City Court sentenced photographer and documentary filmmaker Aliaksandr Ziankoŭ to three years in a minimum-security penal colony under Part 3 of Article 361.1 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation). The trial began on 12 January. On June 22, 2023, Aliaksandr Ziankoŭ was detained on 22 June 2023 at his home in Barysaŭ and taken to the detention centre on Akrescina Street in Minsk. He was later transferred to the pre-trial detention centre on Valadarskaha Street in the Belarusian capital. Aliaksandr Ziankoŭ is the author of documentaries about the culture and history of Belarus.
II. Politically motivated administrative detentions and arrests of cultural workers, authors and performers
1. On 16 January, Homiel’s Čyhunačny District Court heard the administrative case of the Puppet Theatre CEO Dzmitry Harelik under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials). The outcome of the trial remains unknown. Dzmitry Harelik has managed the theatre since June 1992.
2. On 18 January, Viciebsk’s Čyhunačny District Court heard the administrative case of artist Natallia Dziamšova, accused under Part 1 of Article 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offences (violation of the procedure to organise a mass event) and Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials). Natallia Dziamšova is an artist, a teacher at a children’s art school, and a manager of exhibitions of Latvian artists in Belarus. The results of the hearing remain unknown.
3. On 23 January, Aksana Jučkavič was detained in Minsk. She is a poetess, organiser of cultural events, journalist, and author of the children’s poems collection Saint Nicholas, Come to Us! She also co-created the Christian video programme for children titled “Angels from the Rainbow.” Aksana Jučkavič was engaged in scientific research in Belarusian philology and taught Polish language courses. In 2020, she was among those detained on Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve) in Kurapaty and spent nine days behind bars.
4. On 23 January, Barys Chamajda, a pro-democracy activist and distributor of literature, was detained in Viciebsk. Chamajda, 76, spent two days in a detention centre. The police filed an offence report against him under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials) because his Facebook account was a subscriber to independent news outlets.
5. On 25 January, Viciebsk’s Pieršamajski District Court fined Tacciana Sieviaryniec 5,400 BYN ($1,653). She was found guilty of distributing extremist materials and unauthorised picketing. Tacciana Sieviaryniec is a philologist, teacher, and the mother of the public figure, writer and political prisoner Paval Sieviaryniec. She was detained on 9 January because she subscribed to independent news outlets.
6. On 25 January, it became known about the arrest for participating in the post-election protests of the lead singer of the band Minimum Distance, known under the name of Ženia Šum. The musician returned to Belarus from Poland after his visa expired.
III. Trials and arrests for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols
1. On 26 January, Svietlahorsk District Court sentenced the former employee of the department for emergencies, Valery Samsonienka, to one year in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 370 of the Criminal Code (desecration of state symbols). On the night of 13-14 October 2023, Valery Samsonienka removed the red-green flag from the flagpole in the village of Sasnovy Bor and installed the Ukrainian flag.
2. Hlybokaje District Court in the Viciebsk region sentenced Aliaksandr Zaremba to 10 days of administrative arrest for images of the white-red-white flag and Pahonia (Pursuit) coat of arms on social networks.
IV. Conditions in places of detention, tortures of prisoners
On 20 January, Nasta Daškievič, Zmicier Daškievič’s wife, wrote on social media: “Zmicier stayed in a concrete cage for six months in the Žodzina prison, all the time between July and January in a punishment cell. Now, he has been transferred again to Navasady. It is the same place where a criminal case was opened against him. Now, he is back in punitive confinement, where he complains about the extreme cold. He says he has to get up eight times a night to exercise to keep himself warm. Because of that, the guards routinely issue the rule violation reports, accusing him of not lying down after the lights off.”
V. Repressions against the People of the Word’s relatives
A criminal case was opened against Arciom Antonaŭ, the son of writer Siarhiej Antonaŭ, under Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the president). The police claimed that while in a police car after his arrest, he allegedly made insulting comments about Lukašenka. “I think this is their revenge for my departure from Belarus. The son, of course, was upset that I was detained in a criminal case and that the KGB interrogated me. And what he said there, in the car, and what he didn’t say – only the police officers witnessed it. Their testimony is the only evidence that Arciom is guilty,” Siarhiej Antonaŭ commented. Siarhiej Antonaŭ is a journalist and correspondent of the Belarusian newspaper Pryvatny Detektyŭ (Private Eye), the author of several works of the international literary series “World Metro 2033”. He was detained in Mahilioŭ on 5 December 2023 and spent three days in a detention centre. Special service agents came to his workplace and home and took away all the equipment. The writer was interrogated until midnight. The agents asked him to confess to work related to the mogilev.media website. Otherwise, they threatened to send him to the KGB pre-trial detention centre. After that, Siarhiej Antonaŭ spent two days in a temporary holding facility. He immediately fled Belarus upon release.
VI. Repressions in the book-publishing sector
On 24 January, the Ministry of Information suspended the activities of Roman Cymbieraŭ’s independent publishing house for a month.
VII. Censorship
On 27 January, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the premiere of the play Clara Was Here about the Nazi crimes against Jews was cancelled at the Youth Theatre in Minsk. The production is directed by Tacciana Aksionkina and based on Ksenia Štaliankova’s play Memoria Nominis Clara. The page about the performance was removed from the theatre’s website.