21 May 2023 – PEN International, the literary and free expression organisation, has released a letter signed by 103 Nobel Laureates, expressing solidarity with writer, human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and PEN member Ales Bialiatski, and condemning the Belarusian authorities’ brutal, relentless, and systematic crackdown on independent voices. Today marks the International Day of Solidarity with Prisoners of Conscience in Belarus.

Writer and journalist Andrzej Poczobut is serving an eight-year sentence in a medium-security penal colony on trumped up charges of inciting hatred and encouraging sanctions aimed at harming the national security of Belarus. A dual Belarusian-Polish national, Poczobut was arbitrarily detained on 25 March 2021 and spent almost two years behind bars before his unfair sentencing. He is said to have serious health problems and to be routinely denied access to correspondence, especially in Polish. According to his family, he was recently sent to solitary confinement for seven days. The reason for this punishment is not yet known.  

PEN America, PEN Belarus, PEN Armenia, and PEN Moscow Make Joint Statement on International Writers for Peace Day.

Statement by the human rights community of Belarus

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community