Main results<\/a> <\/a><\/a>MAIN RESULTS<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a>HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST CULTURAL FIGURES<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n By the end of March, there were 1,474 political prisoners in Belarus. In the first quarter of 2023, at least 229 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures had their rights violated. 115 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures are political prisoners. At least 137 <\/b><\/span>people are being held in penal colonies, prisons, and pretrial detention centres, in open-type correctional facilities (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) or put under home confinement (the so-called \u201cdomestic khimiya\u201d) under criminal charges. This data is incomplete, given the scale of repression against cultural figures in Belarus and that many victims choose to stay silent. At the same time, state bodies restrict the spread of information on such cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There were 57 detentions and 39 administrative cases against cultural figures. 28 people were convicted in criminal trials. 22 persons were designated as “extremists” and 2 as “terrorists”. Criminal proceedings were opened against 21 people. 14 searches were conducted. 8 cultural figures lost their jobs for political reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On 5 January, a court in Minsk sentenced culture expert, archivist, and activist of the independent trade union “REP” Vacla\u016d Are\u0161ka<\/b> to 8 years in a medium-security prison.\u00a0 <\/span>On 20 January, musician Ja\u016dhieni Hlu\u0161ko\u016d<\/b>, who took a picture of a military airfield in the village of Ziabra\u016dka<\/span> in the Homiel region, from where Russian forces launched missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine, stood a closed-door trial and was sentenced to 9 years in a medium-security colony. On 8 February, a court in Hrodna sentenced journalist, essayist and member of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andrzej Poczobut<\/b> during a closed session to 8 years in a medium-security colony for expressing his views on the Belarusian protests of 2020, the historical facts of 1939 and the protection of the Polish minority. On 3 March, the human rights defender, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Alies Bialiacki <\/b>was <\/b>sentenced by a Minsk court to 10 years in a medium-security prison and a fine of 185,000 rubles (~ USD 63,000) for his human rights activities and helping repressed people. On 17 March, in Minsk, the columnist and researcher Valeryja Kasciuhova<\/b> received 10 years in prison for her intellectual work.<\/p>\n During the analysed period, the following people were sentenced to terms ranging from 2.5 years of home confinement to 11 years in prison: local historian and journalist Aliaksandr Ly\u010da\u016dka<\/b> <\/b>(3 years of home confinement), guide and researcher Valeryja \u010carnamorcava <\/b>(2.5 years of home confinement), singer Meryem Hierasimienka <\/b>(3 years of home confinement), musician and public figure Barys Ku\u010dynski <\/b>(court hearing on introducing reinforced regime: 3 years of home confinement was replaced with 2 years in prison), Andrey \u017duk<\/b>, <\/b>owner of the ‘Banki-Butylki’ bar (2.5 years of open-type correctional facility) \u2013 in January<\/span>; cameraman and cover-performer Hlieb Hladko\u016dski <\/b>(5 years in prison), actor, casting director Viktar Bojka <\/b>(3 years of home confinement), history teacher Siarhiej Koziel <\/b>(3 years of home confinement), moderator of the group “For the Single State Language in Belarus!” in the social network “VKontakte”, researcher Uladzimir Butkaviec <\/b>(3 years in a medium-security prison), architect Valeryja Sokal <\/b>(2.5 years of home confinement), cultural manager, video blogger and politician Siarhiej Cichano\u016dski <\/b>(another 1.5 years in a medium-security prison added to 18 years of imprisonment) \u2013 in February<\/span>; founder of the Spanish visa centre Ruslan Labanok<\/b> (11 years in a medium-security prison philologist), Italian language specialist Natalia Dulina <\/b>(3.5 years in jail), musicians Uladzimir <\/b>and Dzmitry Karakin <\/b>(2.5 years of home confinement each), culture and etiquette expert Aksana Zareckaja <\/b>(1.5 years in prison), a graduate student of the history department of the Belarusian State University Jury Ulasiuk<\/b> (home confinement), photographer and journalist Hienadzi Ma\u017eejka <\/b>(3 years in jail), writer and bard Aliaksiej Iljin\u010dyk <\/b>(2.5 years in prison),\u00a0 <\/span>photographer Varvara Miadzviedzieva<\/b> (home confinement) \u2013 in March<\/span>.<\/p>\n In February \u2013 March, the following cultural figures were scheduled to stand for trials. Still, we know nothing more about them: artist-illustrator Vadzim Bahryj<\/b>, artist and cartoonist Ivan Viarbicki<\/b>.<\/p>\n In March, Paval Latu\u0161ka<\/b>, <\/b>former minister of culture of the Republic of Belarus, former director of the Janka Kupala Theatre and politician, was sentenced in absentia <\/b><\/span>to 18 years in a colony.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At least 28 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures were convicted <\/b><\/span>in <\/b>criminal proceedings between January and March 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Violations of detention conditions in closed institutions <\/b><\/span>were recorded concerning 26 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures. One of the consequences of the inhuman treatment of political prisoners is the deterioration of their health. Artist Ruslan Kar\u010dauli died in a Hrodna prison. According to the information received, the cause of death was pneumonia because Ruslan had received no timely medical assistance. After his transfer to a Mahilio\u016d colony, translator and literature critic Aliaksandr Fiaduta had heart issues, eventually leading to his hospitalisation. Literary worker and bard Aliaksiej Iljin\u010dyk was not allowed to receive the necessary medication, and his right arm is almost inoperative after a stroke he suffered in the spring. As a result of the information blockade, the relatives could not pass the necessary medication to philosopher Uladzimir Mackievi\u010d. Professor and organiser of cultural events Jury Bubno\u016d suffered a head injury in the pretrial detention centre. Journalist Siarhiej Sacuk\u2019s health deteriorated when he did not receive the necessary medication. Ksienija Luckina contracted bilateral pneumonia in the colony. The health of the publicist and activist Alena Hna\u016dk deteriorated. Two days after the trial culturologist Aksana Zareckaja was taken to hospital in an unconscious state. The conditions in the Belarusian prisons are a severe physical and psychological ordeal. Writer and journalist Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Bachvalava) has been imprisoned for almost 2.5 years. In one of her letters to her husband, she wrote<\/span><\/a> about “enormous physical and moral fatigue<\/i>“.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Authorities continued placing political prisoners who are cultural activists on preventive watch lists, transferring them to solitary confinement, a punitive isolation ward, a punishment cell, and cell-type premises (CCP). They also continued to tighten the punishment regime by transferring prisoners from the colony to jail. In February, philosopher, methodologist, and publicist Uladzimir Mackievi\u010d stood a new trial over a stricter imprisonment regime. In March, the same happened to UX\/UI designer Dzmitry Kubara\u016d. At least nine cultural figures have been transferred from the corrective colony to prison as of today. Persecution of political prisoners under Article 411 of the Criminal Code (“Persistent disobedience to demands of the administration of a correctional facility”) continues. The charges were applied to convict culture manager, video blogger and politician Siarhiej Cichano\u016dski in the February 2023 trial adding 1.5 years to his ongoing 18-year sentence. Artist and cartoonist Ivan Viarbicki was convicted in March under similar charges. (The publicist and activist Alena Hna\u016dk’s trial started on 11 April). Following a motion by the prosecutor, the sentence was increased for musician and public figure Barys Ku\u010dynski. In late January, he saw three years of restricted freedom without referral to an open institution (home confinement) replaced with two years in prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n During January \u2013 March this year, at least 56 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures were detained <\/b><\/span>(one of them twice). The number of detentions increased dramatically at the end of March. It became known on 29-30 March that police detained no less than 13 specialists associated with the Polack National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. Most received 15 days of administrative arrest for the alleged “distribution of extremist materials” (Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In mid-April, two museum employees were reportedly subsequently charged in a criminal case. During the monitored period, at least 32 detentions ended up in administrative proceedings. At least three cultural figures were re-arrested and given additional days behind bars. At least two administrative proceedings transformed into criminal cases. Eight people were probably released on the same day or a few days later without charges. Criminal cases were opened against 17 people immediately after detention or following an administrative arrest. The fate of some of them remains not fully known. Cultural figures in administrative detention received at least 444 days of arrest (almost 15 months) and 5,254 Belarusian roubles in fines (~$1,850) during the analysed period.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The Ministry of Internal Affairs included 23 <\/b><\/span>cultural figures in the “List<\/span><\/a> of citizens <\/b><\/span>of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens and stateless persons involved in extremist activities<\/b><\/span>“. In total, it contains 127 persons from the cultural sphere. During the reporting period, the monitors spotted a new trend, that is, the inclusion of names of cultural figures in the “List of<\/span><\/a> organisations, groups and individual entrepreneurs, involved in extremist activity” as “participants<\/b><\/span>” of those “formations<\/b><\/span>“. Thus, on 16 January, Tor Band was recognised as an “extremist formation” (its YouTube channel, Patreon, social networks and musical compositions were declared extremist in August 2022). Musicians Dzmitry Halava\u010d, Ja\u016dhieni Burlo and Andrej Jarem\u010dyk, as well as the press secretary of the band Julija Halava\u010d, were included in this list as its (formation) participants. The same applies to several members of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, a non-profit organisation established in 1995 and liquidated by the Lukashenka\u2019s authorities in August 2021. In late February 2023, the organisation appeared on the list of “extremist formations,” with poet and journalist Andrej Bastuniec (Andrei Bastunets), translator Siarhiej Kamla\u010d (Sergei Komlach) and others listed as “participants” of this “formation\u201d. The “List<\/span><\/a> of organisations and individuals involved in terrorist activities<\/b><\/span>“, maintained by the State Security Committee, already has 20 cultural figures. In 2023, Aliaksandr Franckievi\u010d, author of prison literature and anarchist, and Vadzim Vasilje\u016d, light artist, were added to the list.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n In January, Polish writer Maja Wolnych was not allowed into Belarus despite the visa-free regime for Lithuania, Latvia and Poland citizens. She was banned from entering the country for 20 years.<\/p>\n\n <\/a>CENSORSHIP AND ADMINISTRATIVE OBSTACLES IN THE CULTURAL SECTOR<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n On 10 January, Minsk Economic Court ruled to cancel the state registration certificate of the self-employed entrepreneur Andrej Janu\u0161kievi\u010d, essentially meaning the closure of the Janu\u0161kievi\u010d<\/span> publishing house. The decision was motivated by the publication<\/span><\/a> of printed editions “containing information of extremist nature<\/i>“. In 2022, the Ministry of Information included three books from the publishing house in the “National list of extremist materials”. On 26 January, the founder of the Knihazbor publishing house Hienadzi Viniarski wrote<\/span><\/a> on social media that his 27-year “epic<\/i>” publishing activity was over. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the beginning of January, local authorities cancelled<\/span><\/a> a concert dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the folk band Jahorava Hara <\/span>in Homiel. In mid-January, the website<\/span><\/a> of one of the most famous concert venues in Minsk \u2013 Prime Hall <\/span>\u2013 published information about the temporary closure of the club “for technical reasons”. According to the latest version, voiced in the media, the closure resulted from a corporate New Year party, at which some banned artists performed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On 8 February, public sources published a “stop-list<\/span><\/a>” of banned artists in Belarus, which includes 87 names of bands and artists. The Ukrainian rock band Nervy appears twice in the list [as Band Nervy (item 28) and Nervy (item 64)]; the Meladze brothers \u2013 Russian singer Valery and Russian-Ukrainian composer Konstantin \u2013 are included in the same line. The presence of Russian journalist Aleksey Pivovarov in the list, which focuses on music, is remarkable. Almost one in two performers\/groups (38 out of 87) listed in the “stop-list” represents the Russian musical scene, every third (29 out of 87) is a Belarusian artist, and every fifth (18 out of 87) is a Ukrainian artist. We rarely include in the monitoring report the unverified lists that appear in the public space [mainly due to doubts about their credibility]. Still, this time we proceeded from the fact that this is a valid document and decided to include in this report the instances of censorship against each performer\/group mentioned in it.<\/p>\n The participants of the L\u00fcsterka<\/span><\/a> project \u2013 a virtual exhibition of works by contemporary Belarusian artists, created by Uladzimir Malia\u016dka in response to repression and “blacklists” of artists \u2013 received letters from the Ministry of Culture of Belarus informing them that state cultural institutions could no longer these authors.<\/p>\n On 23 February, the Palace of Arts in Minsk opened an exhibition of Belarusian paintings titled\u00a0 <\/span>“Leanid \u0160\u010damialio\u016d. Prysvia\u010dennie…<\/span>“, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the People’s Artist of Belarus. As usual, not all artists, who offered their works, saw them on the walls of the exhibition space. The “unreliability” of artists proved to be the problem. As far as public sources<\/span><\/a> are concerned, the Ministry of Culture did not admit Andrej Smaliak to the exhibition (“You’re on the list!”<\/i>), and at least one other artist was unavailable. As it turned out, several paintings were still on display on the opening day, but a day or two later, the works by other artists replaced them. We do not know exactly how many artists were censored at this exhibition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In March, the website of the independent Belarusian scientific, popular science, socio-political and literary-artistic magazine ARCHE was blocked again (the last time was in July 2022) and is currently inactive. Access to the Belarusian Council of Culture website is restricted on the territory of Belarus under a Ministry of Information’s decision based on the Law on the Mass Media of the Republic of Belarus. On 7 June 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs designated it an “extremist formation”.<\/p>\n At least 10 <\/b><\/span>non-profit cultural organisations were liquidated. In the first quarter of 2023, the Dance and Sports League and Ludmila Dance and Sports Club public associations were on the liquidation lists after lawsuits were filed with the Minsk City Court in October 2022 seeking to suspend their operation. By the end of March 2023, 193 influential NGOs in the cultural sphere in Belarus had been forcibly liquidated.<\/p>\n <\/a>THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN CULTURAL LIFE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n In January, about 80 people in a company of three tour guides travelled to the agricultural settlement of Siemia\u017eova, Minsk Region, to attend the UNESCO-listed intangible heritage rite of “Kaliadnyha Cary” (Christmas Kings)<\/span>. The ceremony, held annually, takes place on the Generous evening of 13 January. The trip participants were detained and spent five hours on the bus while the police checked their documents and phones. For the guides, Ivan Sacukievi\u010d and Ales Varyki\u0161, the trip to the rite ended with 15 and 9 days of administrative detention.<\/p>\n In the first half of February, the Ministry of Culture withdrew the Russia-made film \u201cWhat Men Talk About. Simple Pleasures<\/span>” from cinemas. The film features actors from the Quartet I theatre, who spoke out<\/span><\/a> about the cruelty of the “so-called siloviki<\/i>” against the people of Belarus in 2020. Their participation in the film caused censorship and prevented it from being screened for mass viewers.<\/p>\n The round table on the role of women in the cultural epoch at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries<\/span> at the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, was not held on 9 March following a \u201cheads-up\u201d for the police by the pro-Russian and pro-governmental activist Volha Bondarava. Bondarava found it inappropriate that the program mentioned the names of pro-Belarus independence dissident writers Natallia Arsienjeva and Larysa Hieniu\u0161. On 16 March, it became known that the National Art Museum had to cancel the lecture “Ethnometaphysics and the sacral sphere in traditional Belarusian culture<\/span>” <\/span>by Iryna Dubianieckaja, senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On 21 March, a few days before the start, the Ministry of Culture banned the Unfiltered Cinema<\/span><\/a> festival without explanation. The IX Independent Offline festival of auteur cinema, “Cinema without commercial, ideological and aesthetic censorship?<\/i>” as the organisers positioned<\/span><\/a> it, was scheduled for 24-26 March in Minsk. Initially, the films on the agenda had a green light for screening and appeared in the State Register of Films of the Republic of Belarus. However, they were no longer on the register following news about the festival’s cancellation.<\/p>\n In this section, we would also like to leave on record the mass detentions<\/span><\/a> of teenage anime fans who tried to gather in shopping malls on 28 February in Homiel and on 1 March in Brest. We did not classify this event as a violation of cultural rights, as this phenomenon is yet to be thoroughly studied. Nevertheless, we consider it necessary to pay attention to the repressions<\/span><\/a> against minors, which the Investigative Committee explained as a counteraction to a new youth subculture known as PMC Redan. You can read about the history of the Japanese subculture in Belarus in this article<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a>ADDITION TO THE LIST OF CULTURAL “EXTREMIST MATERIALS”<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Human rights violations against cultural figures<\/a>
\n<\/span>Censorship and administrative obstacles in the cultural sector<\/a>
\n<\/span>The right to participate in cultural life<\/a>
\n<\/span>Additions to the list of cultural “extremist materials”<\/a>
\n<\/span>Combating “unnecessary” memory (historical and cultural heritage)<\/a>
\n<\/span>State policy in the field of culture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
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