Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-30 September 2026)

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 30 September 2026, at least 115 cultural figures, including at least 19 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books remained at 378.

History teacher Volha Vostrykava was convicted in a politically motivated criminal case.

Political prisoner and photographer Vadzim Zdaraviennaŭ was convicted in a new politically motivated criminal case.

Songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Aleś Čumakoŭ told human rights defenders that he had been subjected to torture during the investigation and detention.

Former political prisoner Sviatłana Jakubovič reported that authorities confiscated her manuscripts before her release.

The following were designated as “extremist”: the Telegram channel Durnica News, run by artist Nika Sandras; the Facebook account of former political prisoner and prison literature author Mikoła Dziadok; the Instagram account of Belarusian culture promoter Mikita Bialevič; and the Facebook account of former political prisoner and prison literature author Maksim Viniarski.

Authorities named the cultural and educational activities of artist and writer Siarhiej Filipaŭ.

I. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers

1. On 23 September, it became known that history teacher Volha Vostrykava, who worked at a secondary school in Kapcevičy, Pietrykaŭ District, had been convicted by the Homiel Regional Court under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activities). According to preliminary information, she was sentenced in the so-called “Hajun case” to restricted freedom in home confinement. Biełaruski Hajun was a monitoring project that tracked Russian military activity on Belarusian territory.

2. On 29 September, political prisoner and photographer Vadzim Zdaraviennaŭ was convicted in a new politically motivated criminal case and sentenced to four years and seven months’ imprisonment in a minimum-security penal colony and a fine of 500 base units (BYN 22,500, approximately USD 7,454).

He was charged under several provisions of the Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 342 (organising, preparing or actively participating in actions that grossly violate public order), Part 1 of Article 130 (incitement of racial, national, religious or other social hatred or enmity), and Article 203-1 (unlawful handling of information relating to private life and personal data). The case concerned comments and photographs that the police had reportedly found on his laptop.

On 10 November 2025, Zdaraviennaŭ had been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment under Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the President).

II. Torture of cultural figures during investigation and detention

Bard, translator, songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Aleś Čumakoŭ told human rights defenders that he had been subjected to torture during the investigation and detention:

“In the van, they again put me down on the floor, which was wet and covered in some foul-smelling substance. They pulled my handcuffed hands up behind my back towards the ceiling so far that my shoulder joints were twisted. I have scoliosis and old sports injuries to my shoulders—it was unbearably painful. Then one person held my hands while another took a blowtorch-style lighter—the kind that produces not just a flame but a pressurised jet of gas. He began heating the handcuffs until they burned me. Thermal burns! Whenever I tried to twist away from the jet, I would hit the lighter’s metal nozzle. It took nine months for the burns and marks on my arms to disappear.

“A KGB officer was sitting on a side seat—the fair-haired one with his hair combed to the side who had played the bad cop when I was detained. He was wearing special reinforced boots, some combat boots apparently intended specifically for this procedure—none of the others wore anything like them. He beat me all the way from the Investigative Committee to Akrescina. Every three to five seconds I was struck on the head—from behind, from the front, from above. And throughout all of this, they weren’t just beating me; they were also threatening me with rape.

“Then he started kicking me. The entire right side of my body—my leg, side and arm—was blue with bruises. One blow from his reinforced boot hit me directly on the elbow. It damaged a major nerve, and two of my fingers stopped working. I didn’t regain sensation in them for four months. In the pre-trial detention centre, I couldn’t hold a pen or even pick up backgammon pieces—they kept falling out of my hands.”

Čumakoŭ also described loud music as a separate form of torture that prevented his nervous system from recovering:

“Sound and light are another form of abuse. At Akrescina, the radio was on all day, from six in the morning until ten at night. Once they even switched it on at full volume at three in the morning—perhaps by mistake, or perhaps because they wanted to torture someone. In the pre-trial detention centre, the radio is switched on by compulsion in the mornings and during exercise periods. It sounds awful through a metal speaker that is completely unsuited to playing music. And it’s constantly the same thing—Russian pop mixed with foreign pop. For me, someone brought up on folk and rock, it was hellish torture.”

III. Confiscation and disappearance of political prisoners’ manuscripts 

Sviatłana Jakubovič, a volunteer with the Viasna Human Rights Centre and former political prisoner, reported that authorities had taken her manuscripts before her release:

“Anything that had so much as been written in pen—any note at all—they took everything. I had photographs of my mother, notebooks, the diaries I kept, court judgments and responses to appeals and complaints—they took all of it.”

IV. Authors’ and cultural figures’ social media designated as “extremist”

1. On 15 September, the Babrujsk District and City Court designated the Telegram channel Durnica News, run by artist Nika Sandras, as “extremist”.

2. On 18 September, the Kličaŭ District Court of the Mahiloŭ Region designated the Facebook account “Mikola Dziadok”, belonging to former political prisoner and prison literature author Mikoła Dziadok, as “extremist”.

3. On 23 September 2026, the Kiraŭsk District Court of the Mahiloŭ Region designated the Instagram account “mikita_suzuki”, belonging to Belarusian culture promoter Mikita Bialievič, as “extremist”.

4. On 24 September, the Połack District and City Court designated the Facebook account “Maksim Viniarski”, belonging to former political prisoner and prison literature author Maksim Viniarski, as “extremist”. On 29 September, the account was added to the National List of Extremist Materials.

In 2025, Viniarski received the Francišak Alachnovič Prize for works written in prison, including the poems Prosti zhena, my dazhe ne znakomy (“Forgive Me, Wife, We Haven’t Even Met”) and Niaŭdziačny Judaŭ los… (“The Thankless Fate of Judas…”).

V. Brands’ social media designated as “extremist”

On 24 September 2026, the Central District Court of Homiel designated the Instagram account “pavetra_shop”, belonging to an online clothing store selling items featuring Belarusian-themed designs, as “extremist”.

VI. Banning and cancellation of cultural projects

On 24 September, it became known that artist and writer Siarhiej Filipaŭ had been banned from carrying out cultural and educational activities in Minsk. Filipaŭ is the curator of the projects Minsk in Photographs from Different Eras and Meet Me under the Clock.

Filipaŭ wrote on Facebook:

“Now they have banned me from speaking publicly. From holding creative meetings in my own city with remarkable people from across the country. They have already used every other measure they could against me.”

Siarhiej Filipaŭ is the author of the non-fiction book Nasledniki imperii (Heirs of the Empire), about life in Minsk and informal subcultures in the 1970s and 1980s.

Disclaimer: Belarusian personal names and proper names

Personal names

Personal names and surnames in this text are rendered using the traditional Belarusian Latin alphabet Łacinka. We also provide their equivalents according to the current Instruction on the Transliteration of Surnames and Given Names of Citizens of the Republic of Belarus. Where direct access to official identity documents is unavailable, the transliterated forms of names may differ from the spellings used in official passport records.

Toponyms

Geographical names in this text are rendered using the traditional Belarusian Latin alphabet Łacinka. We also provide their equivalents according to the current Instruction on Rendering the Names of Geographical Features from Belarusian and Russian into Other Languages and on Transliteration of the Names of Geographical Features into the Latin Alphabet.

Proper names of organisations, projects, etc. 

The names of Belarusian organisations, projects and similar entities in this text are rendered using the traditional Belarusian Latin alphabet Łacinka.