As of 15 May 2024, at least 156 cultural figures, including not less than 37 People of the Word, were behind bars.
A new criminal case was opened against political prisoner, public figure, and writer Zmicier Daškievič under Article 342 (organizing or preparing actions that grossly violate public order).
Photographer Aliaksandra Mielničak stood trial in a politically motivated criminal case.
Musician Dzmitry Hluščanka was detained for participating in the 2020 post-election protests.
The books – Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski’s Selected Works (1997) and Aleś Pietraškievič’s Selected Works (2017) – were labelled “extremist materials” on orders from the Minsk City Prosecutor’s Office.
Cultural projects manager and writer Siarhiej Makarevič was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility.
I. Politically motivated criminal cases against cultural workers, authors, and performers
1. On 3 May 2024, it became known that a new criminal case was initiated against Zmiсier Daškievič under Article 342 (organising or preparing actions that grossly violate public order), with two months left until the end of his prison term. Zmicier Daškievič is a publicist, the author of the book of prison literature Čarviak (Worm) (2014), for which in 2014 he became the laureate of the Francišak Alachnovič Award, founded by PEN Belarus jointly with Radio Svaboda – for the best work written behind bars. On 14 July 2022, Zmicier Daškievič was sentenced to one and a half years in a penal colony. He was scheduled to walk out free on 11 July 2023. Still, a new criminal case against him was filed under Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of a correctional institution).
2. On 3 May, the Homiel Regional Court heard the politically motivated criminal case of the photographer Aliaksandra Mielničak under Part 1 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (inciting enmity) and Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (actively participating in actions that grossly violate public order). Aliaksandra Mielničak was detained in February 2024.
3. On 3 May, it became known that musician Dzmitry Hluščanka was detained in Hrodna for participating in the 2020 post-election protests. According to police officers, a criminal case was filed against him.
4. On 29 April, it became known that Siarhiej Makarevič was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility. Siarhiej Makarevič is a cultural projects manager and the author of My Heather Country: Local History Essays, Epistolary (2012). He worked at the “Viartannie” (Return) charity fund and the Januškievič publishing house. Siarhiej was detained on 4 November 2022 and taken to a prison in Hrodna. He was charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organizing, preparing, or actively participating in actions that grossly violate public order). Human rights defenders recognised him as a political prisoner on 30 November 2022.
II. Repression for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols
Viciebsk’s Pieršamajski District Court ruled to arrest Aliaksandr Randarenka for 15 days for displaying a pennant in the colours of the Ukrainian flag during an online chat-roulette dialogue.
III. Conditions in places of confinement, torture of prisoners
Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Bachvalava) fell ill with pneumonia in the women’s penal colony No. 4 in Homiel. Kaciaryna Andrejeva is a journalist and author of the documentary book Belarusian Donbas. The book tells the story of a journalistic investigation into the participation of Belarusian citizens in hostilities in the Donbas. On 18 February 2021, Minsk’s Frunzienski District Court sentenced Kaciaryna Andrejeva and Darja Čulcova to two years in a minimum-security penal colony. They were found guilty under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order). On 13 July 2022, the Homiel Regional Court sentenced Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Bachvalava) to eight years in a minimum-security penal colony under Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code (state treason).
IV. Censorship
The paintings of artists who in 2020 put their signatures under the public appeal “Cultural Activists Against Violence,” demanding the authorities and the police to stop violence against the participants of peaceful post-election protests, were removed from the Art Minsk 2024 exhibition.
V. Repressions in the book sector
On 6 May, the books – Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski’s Selected Works (1997) and Aleś Pietraškievič’s Selected Works (2017), published within the Belarusian Book Collection project, were labelled “extremist materials” on orders from the Minsk City Prosecutor’s Office. Under Part 1 of Article 19 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus, “On countering extremism,” distribution, public demonstration, production, storage, and transportation for distributing these publications are prohibited.