{"id":15008,"date":"2024-03-22T11:29:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T11:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=15008"},"modified":"2024-04-03T10:40:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:40:05","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-sakavika-2024-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2024\/03\/22\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-sakavika-2024-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 March 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of <\/strong>15 March 2024, at least 16<\/strong>5 cultural figures, including not less than 36 People of the Word, were behind bars.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Special proceedings were opened in the criminal cases against writer, historian and human rights defender Uladzimir Chilmanovi\u010d<\/strong>, the founder of the Belarusian souvenirs shop “Admietna\u015b\u0107” in Hrodna, Siarhiej Vieramiejenka<\/strong>; the founder of the Belarusian souvenirs shop “Cudo\u016dnaja Krama” in Or\u0161a Ihar Kazmier\u010dak<\/strong>; psychologist, author of the book about the children of political prisoners From Two to Fifteen: My Mother is in Prison<\/em>, Volha Viali\u010dka<\/strong>. Special proceedings mean a trial procedure in absentia, which is applied when a defendant is outside the borders of Belarus.<\/p>\n\n

Cultural figures imprisoned in politically motivated criminal cases, including Nobel Prize laureate, writer and human rights defender Ale<\/strong>\u015b<\/strong> Bialiatski<\/strong>, remain incommunicado in penal colonies.<\/p>\n

Street musician Aliaksiej Niabo\u015bka,<\/strong> aka Liocha Pavuk,<\/strong> was detained in Viciebsk.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Culture in Minsk cancelled screenings of films with the participation of directors Alexander Sokurov<\/strong> and Alexander Zolotukhin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I<\/strong>. Politically motivated criminal cases against cultural workers, authors and performers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> On 6 March, the names of the architects arrested in Minsk on 14 February 2024 in politically motivated criminal proceedings became known. Human rights activists recognized Raman Zabiela, Illja Palonski, Maksim Nazar\u010duk and Dar’ja Mandzik as political prisoners. The architects are charged under Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (group actions that grossly violate public order).<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> On 13 March, authorities in Belarus opened special proceedings in the criminal case against writer, historian and human rights defender Uladzimir Chilmanovi\u010d<\/strong> from Hrodna. He is charged under Part 1 and Part 2 of Art. 361.4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity). Uladzimir Chilmanovi\u010d is the author of the Belarusian Calendar-Guide for Every Day<\/em> and the book of essays on local history titled The Belarusian Gold<\/em>. Since 2021, he has been living outside Belarus.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> On 13 March, special proceedings were opened in the criminal case against psychologist Volha Viali\u010dka<\/strong>, author of the book From Two to Fifteen: My Mother <\/em>is <\/em>in Prison<\/em> about the children of political prisoners and the former head of a children’s hospice in Hrodna. Volha Viali\u010dka left Belarus in the autumn of 2020 due to politically motivated persecution. She is charged under seven articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1, Art. 130 (inciting enmity), Art. 193.1 (illegal organization of the activities of a public association, religious organization or foundation or participation in their activities), Part 3 of Art. 203.1 (illegal actions regarding information about private life and personal data), Part 3 of Art. 210 (intention to seize property in a large amount by an official), Part 1, Art. 342 (active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order); Part 1, Part 2 art. 361.4 (engaging in extremist activities), Part 2 of Art. 367 (defamation of the president).<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> On 13 March, authorities in Belarus opened special proceedings in the criminal case against Ihar Kazmier\u010dak<\/strong>, the founder of the Belarusian souvenirs and symbols store “Cudo\u016dnaja Krama”. Ihar Kazmier\u010dak is charged under Part 1, Part 2 of Art. 361.4 (engaging in extremist activities) and Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the president). Since 2021, Ihar Kazmier\u010dak has been living outside Belarus.<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> On 13 March, special proceedings were opened in the criminal case of Siarhiej Vieramiejenka<\/strong>, the former owner of the Belarusian souvenir shop “Admietna\u015b\u0107” in Hrodna. Siarhiej Vieramiejenka is charged under Part 1 and Part 2 of Art. 361.4 of the Criminal Code (engaging in extremist activity).<\/p>\n

II<\/strong>. Politically motivated administrative detentions and arrests of cultural figures\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Street musician Al<\/strong>i<\/strong>aks<\/strong>i<\/strong>e<\/strong>j<\/strong> N<\/strong>i<\/strong>abo<\/strong>\u015b<\/strong>ka<\/strong> (L<\/strong>iocha <\/strong>Pavuk<\/strong>) was detained in Viciebsk under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences. He has a law degree but worked as a bus driver and sang in the streets and on commuter trains.<\/p>\n

III<\/strong>.<\/strong> Repression for using Belarusian and Ukrainian national symbols<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swimmer Dzmitry \u0160\u010demier<\/strong> was detained for a cover case with the “Pray for Belarus” inscription.<\/p>\n

IV<\/strong>. <\/strong>Conditions of confinement, torture of prisoners<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cultural figures imprisoned in politically motivated criminal cases remain incommunicado in Belarusian penal colonies. Incommunicado means a convict is deprived of the right to correspond and meet with family members. Incommunicado is used, among other things, to the Nobel laureate, writer and human rights defender Ale<\/strong>\u015b Bialiacki (Ales<\/strong> Bialiatski<\/strong>) <\/strong>at the correctional colony No. 9 in Horki, Mahilio\u016d region.<\/p>\n\n

V. Censorship<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 11 March, the Ministry of Culture cancelled the screenings of films with the participation of director Alexander Sakur<\/strong>o<\/strong>v<\/strong> and director Alexander Z<\/strong>o<\/strong>l<\/strong>o<\/strong>tukhin<\/strong>, scheduled for 11-13 March in Minsk. Alexander Sakurov was to present his new film Fairytale<\/em> and the 2005 movie Sun<\/em>. Alexander Zolotukhin planned to present his film A <\/em>Russian Boy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

VI. Repression in the book sector<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 1 March, the prosecutor’s office of the Homiel district ordered to exclude Al<\/strong>hierd <\/strong>Bacharevi\u010d’s<\/strong> book Dogs of Europe<\/em><\/strong> from the Bestbooks.by online catalogue in light of the 2022 decision by the Ministry of Information to designate the book as “extremist material.” The prosecutor of the Homiel district notified the private book-selling company Knihahrad, ordering the exclusion of the book from the catalogue of goods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of 15 March 2024, at least 165 cultural figures, including not less than 36 People of the Word, were behind bars. Special proceedings were opened in the criminal cases against writer, historian and human rights defender Uladzimir Chilmanovi\u010d, the founder of the Belarusian souvenirs shop “Admietna\u015b\u0107” in Hrodna, Siarhiej Vieramiejenka; the founder of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":15011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-15008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultural-right","tag-chronicle","tag-hronika"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15008"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15019,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions\/15019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}