To report a violation (including confidentially) or to correct data presented in the report, please contact us at [email protected] or t.me/viadoma.
As of 15 March 2026, at least 148 cultural figures — including no fewer than 32 writers — were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The total number of banned books stood at 330.
Musician and researcher Aleh Chamienka was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Non-fiction author Cina Pałynskaja and her daughter Marho Rabinovič were sentenced to two years in prison.
The Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case against poet, performer and historical costume reconstructor Kaciaryna Vadanosava.
The KGB designated PEN Belarus an “extremist formation”.
The KGB also declared a non-existent “coalition of publishing houses” an “extremist formation”, arbitrarily including unrelated publishing houses and book distributors.
Former political prisoner and documentary filmmaker Łarysa Ščyrakova reported that texts she had written in prison were confiscated.
Former political prisoner and former editor-in-chief of the TUT.BY portal Maryna Zołatava reported that texts she had written in prison were confiscated.
Writer and public figure Pavieł Sieviaryniec spoke about torture involving the use of music when in prison.
I. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers
1. On 4 March, the Minsk City Court sentenced musician and researcher Aleh Chamienka under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (“facilitating extremist activity”) to three years in a minimum-security penal colony and a fine of more than BYN 20,000 (USD 6,870).
Aleh Chamienka was accused of cooperation with the editorial team of Belarusian Radio Racyja.
Aleh Chamienka is the leader of the folk-modern band Pałac(founded in 1992), a lecturer, researcher of Belarusian folklore, composer, author of texts on cultural studies, and radio host. He was detained in Minsk on 25 June 2025.
2. On 6 March, the outcome of the politically motivated trial of non-fiction author Cina Pałynskaja and her daughter Marho Rabinovič, a student of the Faculty of History, became known. The trial began on 6 January 2026 and concluded with a sentence of two years in a minimum-security penal colony under Part 3 of Article 361-1 (“participation in an extremist formation for the purpose of committing an extremist crime”). Both were convicted for participating in the activities of the Belarusian Analytical Workroom, which the KGB declared an “extremist organisation” on 16 May 2025.
3. On 11 March, it became known that the Prosecutor General’s Office had opened a criminal case against poet, performer and historical costume reconstructor Kaciaryna Vadanosava for an “author’s interpretation of historical events of World War II on YouTube”.
A criminal case was initiated against her under Part 3 of Article 130-1 of the Criminal Code (“rehabilitation of Nazism”) for educational historical video lectures on the YouTube channel Budźma Biełarusami!.
The grounds for the criminal prosecution were the video lecture “The Main Myth of World War II – the Assassination of Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube. What is Wrong?”
The case has been transferred for investigation to the Central Office of the Investigative Committee of Belarus.
Kaciaryna Vadanosava is currently outside Belarus and rejects the charges brought by the prosecution. She wrote, “There was no rehabilitation of Nazism whatsoever. This is a course of educational lectures. At Budźma, we try to approach any historical topic comprehensively and as objectively as possible. And I did not glorify Wilhelm Kube.”
II. Confiscation of manuscripts in places of incarceration
1. On 3 March, Belarusian language and history populariser, documentary filmmaker and former political prisoner Łarysa Ščyrakova reported that texts she had written in prison had been confiscated. She said, “My manuscript from did not leave Detention Centre No. 3.”
2. On 5 March, a former political prisoner and former editor-in-chief of the TUT.BY portal Maryna Zołatava reported that texts she had written in prison had been confiscated. She wrote, “Before my release, my belongings were mixed with those of others, and I was left without a single writing instrument. That means no letters, no notebooks, no notes, no documents such as the verdict. The most painful thing is that among all those papers, the notes I took during the court hearings have disappeared.”
III. Tortures in places of incarceration
Writer and public figure Pavieł Sieviaryniec spoke about torture in prison involving the use of music:
“One of the most memorable things in the Škłoŭ punishment cell was the ‘disco’. While music plays in the corridor of the isolation ward, you must stand in a ‘stretch position’ next to the bunk fixed to the wall. Usually, the music is turned on when inspections begin — which means you stand with your arms twisted behind your back and legs spread apart while the duty assistant to the head of the colony goes through all 23 punishment cells and listens to prisoners’ reports. Sometimes it lasts half an hour, sometimes an hour.”
IV. Designation of publishing houses as “extremist formations”
On 3 March, the KGB declared a non-existent “coalition of publishing houses” an “extremist formation”. KGB agents included the following unrelated publishing houses and book distributors that publish in Belarusian in this alleged coalition: Kamunikat.org, Lohvinau Publishing House, and Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing.
In connection with this “formation”, the list mentions publishers detained in Belarus on 17 February — Zmicier Kołas, Vacłaŭ Bahdanovič, and Aleś Jaŭdacha — as well as Jarosław Iwaniuk, Ihar Łohvinaŭ, and Andrej Januškievič, who are currently abroad.
According to human rights defenders, at least ten people were detained in Minsk on 17 February in connection with the publishers’ case.
V. Designation of authors and performers’ social media as “extremist”
On 6 March, it became known that the Ministry of Information added the Facebook page of public figure, writer and former political prisoner Pavieł Sieviaryniec to the list of “extremist materials”.
VI. Designation of cultural organisations as “extremist”
On 4 March, it became known that on 27 February, the KGB declared PEN Belarus an “extremist formation”.
Founded in 1989, PEN Belarus defends cultural rights and is one of the oldest Belarusian human rights organisations.
VII. Banned books
On 6 March 2026, by decision of the Partizansky District Court of Minsk, a new book was added to the list of “extremist materials”, Diaries of an NKVD Officer: A Documentary Exposure of Stalinism.
Based on manuscripts of former NKVD officer Iosif Jatčenia, the book describes his life, how he became a ‘Chekist’ and later ended up among the “enemies of the people”, and gives a detailed account of NKVD methods and torture used in the “Amerikanka” prison. The book also includes materials from Iosif Jatčenia’s criminal case from the Central Archive of the KGB of Belarus.
VIII. Repression against Belarusian writers in exile
On 6 March, it became known that the confiscated summer house of writer, journalist and human rights defender Uładzimir Chilmanovič had been put up for sale in Belarus. Uładzimir Chilmanovič has not lived in Belarus since 2021.