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Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-30 April 2024)

Last update: 2 May 2024
Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-30 April 2024)

As of 30 April 2024, at least 156 cultural figures, including not less than 37 People of the Word, were behind bars.

 

Poet and journalist Aksana Jučkavič received three years of restricted freedom in home confinement.

The criminal trial of writer and translator from Chinese to Belarusian, Darja Chmialnickaja, began in Minsk.

The trial of DJ Arciom Makaviej from Kobryn opened in Brest.

AI specialist Kanstancin Viarčak was detained over the lyrics published on social media.

Nina Bahinskaja received a 2400 BYN ($733) fine for keeping a white-red-white flag in her flat.

A memorial plaque dedicated to Tadeusz Kosciuszko and the 1794 uprising disappeared from the walls of the New Castle in Hrodna.

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

  1. On 22 April, the Minsk City Court began hearing the criminal case of Darja Chmialniskaja, charged under two articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1, Article 342 (organising actions that grossly violate public order or participating in them), Part 2, Article 361-3 (recruitment, training, other types of preparation or use of Belarusians to participate in war on the territory of another state, as well as financing or providing other material support to such activities). Darja Chmialnickaja is a writer, a translator from Chinese into Belarusian, and the author of the blog “Book Dragon” (the last publication was on 13 May 2023). A graduate of the Faculty of Philology of Belarus State University majoring in oriental philology, she worked as a teacher at the Belarusian-language gymnasium No. 23 in Minsk. In 2023, she won second place in the Ghost of Words competition in the category “Artistic Translation of the Chinese Prose into Belarusian.” She was detained in 2023.
  2. On 26 April, Minsk’s Frunzenski District Court handed down a verdict in the criminal case of the poet, organiser of cultural events, and journalist Aksana Jučkavič: three years of restricted freedom in home confinement. Aksana Jučkavič authored the collection of children’s poems St. Nicholas, Come to Visit Us, and co-created the children’s Christian video show Angels from the Rainbow. She also conducted scientific research in Belarusian philology and taught Polish in the language courses. The police detained Aksana on 23 January in Minsk. On 3 February, it became known that she was placed in the pre-trial prison No. 8 in Žodzina. Aksana faces charges under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organizing, preparing, or participating in actions that grossly violate public order).
  3. On 29 April, the Brest City Court opened the criminal trial of Arciom Makaviej, a DJ from Kobryn, who is facing charges under Article 358-1 of the Criminal Code (spying for Ukraine).

II. Politically motivated administrative detentions and arrests of cultural figures 

On 20 April, it became known that artificial intelligence specialist Kanstancin Viarčak was detained in Minsk for posting his poems on social media. In the poems, he expresses his feelings about the current socio-political situation in Belarus.

III. Repression for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols

On 26 April, it became known that Minsk’s Saviecki District Court fined civic activist Nina Bahinskaja 2,400 rubles ($733) for a small white-red-white flag that police officers found on a nightstand in her flat during a raid on the eve of 25 March, the Freedom Day.

IV. Conditions in places of confinement, torture of prisoners

Several writers, recognized as political prisoners, are isolated and cut off from the outside world. Among them is human rights defender, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aleś Bialacki, who remains incommunicado.

V. Dismissals from cultural institutions

The state-owned film production studio Belarusfilm fired animation film director Aliaksandr Lenkin, who created popular animated movies The Adventures of a Jet Pig, The Fish Named “You Can’t,” Grandfather, The Bird, Toshka and His Friends.

VI. Destruction of memorial sites

On 24 April, it became known that the 1994 memorial plaque dedicated to Tadevuš Kasciuška (Tadeusz Kosciuszko) and the 1794 uprising disappeared from the walls of the New Castle in Hrodna.

VII. Repressions in the book sector

On 15 April, Mahiloŭ’s Leninski District Court designated two books by Viktor Suvorov as “extremist materials.” The list of extremist materials now includes his books, M Day. When did the Second World War begin? and Icebreaker. Who started the Second World War? In January 2024, the same court labeled the writer’s other book, I Take My Words Back, as “extremist.”