As of 15 July 2024, at least 163 cultural figures, including not less than 38 People of the Word, were behind bars.
Minsk Regional Court issued verdicts during the special proceedings trial in the ‘Cichanoŭskaja’s analysts’ case: 10-11 years in a penal colony and fines up to $500,000.
Pensioner Uładzimir Tołkač was convicted for poems about Łukašenka.
The trial of cultural blogger Aleś Sabaleŭski and documentary filmmaker Jaŭhien Hłuškoŭ started in Mahiloŭ. They are charged under three articles of the Criminal Code.
Artist Ivan Viarbicki was sentenced to two more years of imprisonment, bringing his current term to 12 years and one month in a penal colony.
Cultural manager Eduard Babaryka was sentenced to two more years, bringing his current term to 10 years.
Police detained 11 people who had gathered for a concert near Pinsk.
Authorities in Polack banned the cosplay show Kampai Polack.
І. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors and performers
1. On 1 July, the Minsk Regional Court issued a verdict in the special proceedings trial in the ‘Cichanoŭskaja’s analysts’ case under Part 6 of Article 16 and Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (inciting enmity), Article 357 of the Criminal Code (conspiracy to seize power), Part 6, Article 16 and Part 3 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code (participating in calls for action against national security), Part 3, Article 361.1 of the Criminal Code (membership in an extremist formation). Among those convicted in absentia: the author of the books Accents of Freedom (2009) and Seven Lean Years (2014) Jury Drakachrust – 10 years in a penal colony; director of the Political Sphere Institute, editor of the Political Sphere magazine, political scientist Andrej Kazakievič – 10 years in a penal colony; political scientist and translator Alaksandr Łahviniec – 10 years in a penal colony; theologian and philosopher Piotr Rudkoŭski – 11 years in a penal colony and a fine. Special proceedings are criminal proceedings against a defendant outside the Republic of Belarus.
2. On 4 July, it became known that the Barysaŭ District Court sentenced pensioner Uładzimir Tołkač under Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the President). In the spring, during a search, police confiscated Uladzimir’s computer and found the texts of his poems, which, according to police officers, contained insults to the president. The trial on 8 June sentenced Uladzimir Tolkač to three years of restricted freedom in home confinement.
3. On 8 July, the Hrodna Regional Court opened a special proceedings trial of Aleś Kirkievič, journalist and writer, laureate of the Francišak Alachnovič Prize (2013), author of the book Seven Months in a Belarusian Prison (2018), under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 361.4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity).
4. On 12 July, the Mahiloŭ Regional Court started the trial of cultural blogger Aleś Sabaleŭski and documentary filmmaker Jaŭhien Hłuškoŭ, charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1, Article 361.3 (participating as a citizen of the Republic of Belarus in combat on the territory of a foreign state without authorisation by the state), Part 1, Article 361.1 (creating an extremist formation), Part 3 of Article 361.1 (participating in an extremist formation).
5. On 12 July, it became known that Ivan Viarbicki, an artist from Halšany, initially sentenced to 10 years and one month in a penal colony, was sentenced for the second time under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the administration of a penal colony). A court ruled on 8 May to add two more years to the artist, bringing his current term to 12 years and one month in a penal colony.
6. On 12 July, it became known that political prisoner cultural manager Eduard Babaryka, sentenced in 2023 to eight years, was found guilty in a new trial under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of the correctional institution) and sentenced to two more years of imprisonment. Eduard Babaryka’s new combined term is ten years, and he is serving in penal colony No. 2 in Babrujsk.
II. Administrative arrests
On 8 July, police detained 11 people who had gathered in a tent camp near Pinsk to attend a concert.
III. Repressions for Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols
1. On 4 July, it became known that a criminal case was opened against Roman Catholic priest Andrzej Juchnievicz. After two months in a temporary holding facility, he was transferred to a pre-trial detention centre. Andrzej Juchnievicz was detained on 8 May in Šumilina, Viciebsk region, for posting white-red-white and Ukrainian flags on Facebook. Since then, he has remained behind bars.
2. In Mahiloŭ, a guitar teacher was detained over comments on the Internet.
3. In Żodzina, the wedding party guests were detained over red-white-red flags at the venue.
IV. Conditions in place of confinement
1. Human rights activist, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aleś Bialacki, who is serving his sentence for human rights activities in colony No. 9 in Horki, does not receive correspondence from relatives and friends and has never had a telephone conversation with his relatives.
2. Writer and public figure Pavieł Sieviaryniec, confined in prison No. 1 in Hrodna as a convict in a politically motivated criminal case, has not had meetings or telephone conversations with his family members for a year.
V. Destruction of memorial sites
In Kobryn, Brest region, the district council of deputies decided to rename the street of the leader of the 1863 uprising in Belarus, Kastuš Kalinoŭski, to the street named after the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (1965–1980) Piotr Mašeraŭ.
VI. Censorship
In Polack, local authorities banned the cosplay show Kampai Połack. The event was scheduled for 27 July at the local House of Culture. The organisers explained that the House of Culture has a new head, for whom “anime promotes the wrong values.”