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As of 15 April 2026, at least 128 cultural figures, including at least 26 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books climbed to 336.
Jeweller Jahor Bužyłaŭ was sentenced to 4 years of restricted freedom.
Designer Jana Maskalova was sentenced to home confinement.
Photographer Andrej Lankievič was detained at the Belarus–Poland border.
Employees of the architectural company ZROBIM architects were detained.
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee was designated an “extremist formation”.
The Supreme Court classified the European Humanities University as an “extremist organisation”.
A court in Minsk declared the website and Instagram page of the bookstore Knihi.by “extremist materials”.
Four new books were added to the list of “extremist materials”.
The feature film Žyvie Biełaruś (2012) was declared “extremist.”
I. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers
1. On 1 April, it became known that Jahor Bužyłaŭ, production director of the Belarusian jewellery brand Belaruskicry, was sentenced to 4 years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility under Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code (creating or participating in an extremist formation). The verdict was issued on 19 March 2026.
Bužyłaŭ studied jewellery-making and produced his own pieces. The Investigative Committee said that other members of the brand had been placed on a wanted list and that their cases had been split into separate proceedings. On 23 July 2025, the Partizanski District Court declared the brand’s website and social media pages (Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, TikTok and X) “extremist materials”.
2. On 7 April, it became known that the Brest Regional Court sentenced designer Jana Maskalova under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity) to restricted freedom in home confinement. Maskalova graduated from the Pinsk State College of Arts with a degree in Design and Typography and worked as a designer and illustrator.
II. Detentions of cultural figures
1. On 3 April, it became known that photographer Andrej Lankievič was detained at the Belarus–Poland border over subscriptions to independent media found on his phone. Lankievič has held more than 80 solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the United States. His works are held in private collections in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, and Lithuania.
2. On 9 April, nearly 50 employees of the architectural company ZROBIM architects were detained at their office in Minsk. Most of those detained were later released; however, the company’s founder, Andrej Makoŭski (Andruś Bezdar), remained in custody.
ZROBIM architects is a Belarusian architectural studio founded in 2011 by Andrej Makoŭski and Alaksiej Karabloŭ. Known for its contemporary architecture and design projects, it operates both in Belarus and abroad.
III. Designation of human rights, educational and cultural organisations as “extremist”
1. On 1 April, it became known that on 31 March, the KGB designated the human rights organisation Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) an “extremist formation”.
The organisation was registered on 1 November 1995. Its founders included prominent Belarusian public and cultural figures such as writer Vasil Bykaŭ (the first chair of the supervisory council), poet Ryhor Baradulin, writer Sviatłana Aleksijevič, poet Hienadź Buraŭkin, and translator and PEN Belarus founder Carlos Sherman.
2. On 14 April, the Supreme Court, following a request from the Prosecutor General’s Office, declared the European Humanities University (EHU) an “extremist organisation”. The ruling follows the August 2025 designation of the university’s social media accounts as “extremist materials”.
According to the prosecution, the university “conducts targeted activities aimed at destabilising the socio-political situation in the country” and is allegedly “used by intelligence services of certain neighbouring states to harm Belarus’s interests in political, humanitarian and information spheres.”
The university has approximately 1,500 students and around 100 academic staff. EHU was founded in Minsk in 1992, closed by the Belarus authorities in 2002, and resumed operations in Lithuania in 2004.
IV. Repression in the publishing sector
1. On 2 April, Minsk’s Partyzanski District Court declared the website and Instagram page of the bookstore knihi.by as “extremist materials”.
2. On 6 April, the Ministry of Information suspended the distribution activities of the publishing house Technalohija. According to the Ministry, the organisation “failed to submit updated registration information required for inclusion in the State Register of publishers, producers, and distributors of printed materials, approved by the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus.”
The publishing house still holds its printing licence. Technalohija, founded in 1988, was the first private publishing house in Belarus and specialises in popular science, reference, children’s, and souvenir books.
V. Banned books
On 2 April 2026, the Kastryčnicki District Court of Minsk added four new books to the list of “extremist materials”:
- Makar, Apošniaje pakalenne (Last Generation)
- Kamila Cień, Nastupny prypynak — śmierć (Next Stop is Death)
- Maks Ščur, Tam, dzie nas niama (Where We Do Not Exist)
- Alaksandr Cvikievič, Histaryčnyja pracy. Tom 1 (Historic Works. Volume 1)
Works by Belarusian political figure and head of the government of the Belarusian People’s Republic, Alaksandr Cvikievič, were once banned during the Soviet period. In June 1937, an order was issued to burn all his books, and in December of the same year, he was executed.
More information on banned books in Belarus is available at: bannedbooks.penbelarus.org.
VI. Designation of cultural organisations’ social media as “extremist”
On 10 April, the Instagram page americancenterminsk, dedicated to US culture and English language learning, was declared “extremist,” according to the updated list published by the Ministry of Information.
VII. Designation of works of art as “extremist”
On 14 April, the Homiel District Court ruled to declare the feature film “Žyvie Biełaruś” (2012) “extremist”. Directed by Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, the movie is based on Franak Viačorka’s experience in the Belarusian army.