As of 31 March 2024, at least 158 cultural figures, including not less than 36 People of the Word, were behind bars.
Nizkiz rock band musicians were sentenced to restricted freedom in home confinement.
Minsk City Court sentenced journalist and non-fiction author Ihar Karniej to three years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 361.1 Part 3 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation).
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case in absentia against former political prisoner, prison literature author and 2013 Francišak Aliachnovič Literary Award laureate Aleś Kirkievič.
Poet, bard, the father of seven, Siarhiej Mieljanc, was detained and sentenced to 13 days of administrative arrest.
Police officers raided the flat of Nina Bahinskaja and seized all information carriers, three flags, and a poster with the Pahonia (Pursuit) coat of arms. The court hearing scheduled a hearing for 1 April.
Music Theatre director Siarhiej Pukita was fired.
I. Politically motivated criminal cases against cultural workers, authors and performers
1. On 20 March 2024, the musicians of the Nizkiz rock band were sentenced to restricted freedom in home confinement. The duration of the sentence is unknown. Frontman Aliaksandr Iljin, bass-guitarist Siarhiej Kulša and drummer Zmicier Chaliaŭkinwere detained in Mahilioŭ on 5 January 2024. It became known on 29 January that a criminal case was opened against the musicians.
2. On 22 March 2024, the Minsk City Court handed down a sentence in the criminal case of Ihar Karniej under Part 3 of Art. 361.1 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation) – three years in a minimum-security penal colony. Ihar Karniej is a journalist, essayist, author of texts about Belarus’s cultural and historical heritage, and travel blogger. He was detained in Minsk on 17 July 2023; police also searched his house. Initial reports suggested that he was arrested for ten days. On 28 July 2023, Ihar Karniej was transferred to the pre-trial detention centre on Valadarski Street in Minsk; a criminal case was opened against him. On 15 November 2020, he was detained during the March of the Brave – one of the peaceful protest rallies in Minsk – and sentenced to 10 days of arrest under Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences (participation in an unauthorised mass event). He served his arrest in a detention centre in Žodzina. After his release, he wrote an article “The next stop is hell. How I spent ten days in the Žodzina detention centre”, in which he talked about the inhumane conditions behind bars. The trial of Ihar Karniej began on 19 March. The reason for the arrest was not disclosed to the court. According to the state-run newspaper Belarus Segodnya, the criminal case was opened in connection with his cooperation with the human rights organisation “Belarusian Association of Journalists” (BAJ). In 2021, the Supreme Court deprived BAJ of its legal status. In early 2023, the KGB designated it an “extremist organisation.” According to the indictment, Ihar Karniej continued to cooperate with the Belarusian Association of Journalists, creating for its website “negative materials insulting the head of state, representatives of the government, journalists and citizens who do not support the unconstitutional change of power.”
3. It became known on 29 March that the Investigative Committee of Belarus opened a criminal case in absentia (special proceedings) against Aleś Kirkievič, former political prisoner, prison literature author and 2013 Francišak Aliachnovič Literary Award laureate, author of the books Seven Months in a Belarusian Prison (2018), Samurai (2018). Aleś Kirkievič is accused of facilitating extremist activities. Currently, he lives outside Belarus. Under special proceedings (introduced in 2022), authorities can open criminal cases in absentia and hold trials of political opponents.
II. Politically motivated administrative detentions and arrests of cultural figures
On 20 March, it became known that in Minsk, the poet and bard, the father of seven children, Siarhiej Mieljanc, who attended political trials and made posts for Facebook from there, was detained and sentenced to 13 days of administrative arrest.
III. Repression for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols
1. On 15 March, the Minsk City Court ruled to sentence a man to 15 days of administrative arrest for releasing five white-red-white balloons from a window. The balloons got stuck in a power line. The court found he violated the procedure for holding mass events under Art. 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offences. During the hearing, the accused said he had received the balloons as a birthday gift. At 5:30 in the morning, he decided to release them from the window, but the balloons accidentally got stuck in a power line. Police officers saw the balloons, took pictures, and detained the man.
2. On 20 March, police officers searched the house of activist Nina Bahinskaja. They removed all information carriers, three flags and a poster with the Pahonia (Pursuit) coat of arms. On 25 March, Freedom Day, police detained Nina Bahinskaja and held her in a police station until the evening. On 1 April, Minsk’s Peršamajski District Court scheduled the hearing of Nina Bahinskaja’s administrative case on charges of using national symbols.
IV. Death in places of confinement, torture of prisoners
Eduard Babaryka, cultural projects manager, sentenced to eight years in prison in a politically motivated criminal trial, is in a cell-type room at the penal colony No. 2 in Babrujsk. Convicts punished with cell-type rooms can spend one base amount to purchase groceries and necessities if they have money in personal accounts, receive one parcel within six months, and take a daily 30-minute walk. Prisoners in a cell-type room are recruited to work separately from others. While in a cell-type room, convicts receive reduced food rations.
V. Dismissals in cultural institutions
On 21 March, the director of the Musical Theatre, Siarhiej Pukita, was dismissed. The reason for the dismissal was the song “Peremen!” (Changes!) by Kino band, performed by the symphonic orchestra of Russia’s Voronezh Concert Hall in the “Anthology of Russian Rock” programme on 16 March at the Music Theatre.
VI. Repressions in the book sector
On 29 March, it became known that the Ministry of Information suspended the operation of the “Malenkij Umnik” store for three months for violating paragraph 3 of Art. 28 of the Law on Publishing. Under this provision, retailers are to notify the Ministry of Information within a month of changes in the information that “are subject to inclusion in the State Register of Publishers, Producers and Distributors,” presenting supporting documents as confirmation. “Malenkij umnik” is a Minsk store that sells children’s games and literature.