{"id":17566,"date":"2024-11-18T16:07:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T16:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=17566"},"modified":"2024-12-05T12:23:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T12:23:50","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-listapada-2024-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2024\/11\/18\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-listapada-2024-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 November 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of\u00a015 November 2024, at least 170 cultural figures, including not less than 38\u00a0People of Word, were behind bars, also in home confinement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Minsk City Court opened the trial of Siarhiej Hor\u0142a\u016d<\/strong>, musician and translator.<\/p>\n

Showman and singer Ivan Vabi\u0161\u010devi\u010d,<\/strong> aka Dziadzia Vania<\/strong> (Uncle Vania), was detained.<\/p>\n

The criminal trial of photographer Arciom Zia\u0144ko\u016d<\/strong> started in a Minsk court.<\/p>\n

Former DOORS rock club head Alaksandr Muchin<\/strong> from Bara\u0144 was sentenced to administrative arrest.<\/p>\n

History and social studies teacher Natalla Sizincava<\/strong> was fined in Or\u0161a.<\/p>\n

Local historian Hienad\u017a Dziamidka<\/strong> was punished in administrative proceedings in Pastavy.<\/p>\n

The health condition of culturologist Vac\u0142a\u016d Are\u0161ka<\/strong>, serving his eight-year prison term, seriously deteriorated.<\/p>\n

Relatives have not heard from the prison literature author Alaksandr Franckievi\u010d<\/strong> for over a month.<\/p>\n

Actors were fired from the Theatre of Belarusian Dramaturgy. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The cross, dedicated to the victims of Communist repressions, disappeared from the Lo\u0161ycki Park<\/strong> in Minsk.<\/p>\n

The AKC Most<\/strong> language school stopped operations in Brest.<\/p>\n

\n
I. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers<\/strong><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 1 November 1, the Minsk City Court began the criminal trial of musician and translator Siarhiej Hor\u0142a\u016d<\/strong> under four articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1, Part 2 of Art. 361.4 (facilitating extremist activity), Part 1 of Art. 130 (inciting hostility or discord), Part 3 of Art. 361 (calls for sanctions) and Part 1 of Art. 368 (insult to the president). Siarhiej Hor\u0142a\u016d graduated from the Minsk State Linguistic University and the European Humanities University. He worked as an English translator and played in the Forest Radio band. He translated songs from English into Belarusian. He was detained in February 2024. Initially, he was punished in administrative proceedings and sentenced to administrative arrest for “distribution of extremist materials”, but soon faced criminal charges and was transferred to a pre-trial detention centre.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> On 6 November, it became known about the detention of Ivan Vabi\u0161\u010devi\u010d,<\/strong> aka Dziadzia Vania<\/strong> (Uncle Vania). His Instagram account was last updated on 26 September 2024. Ivan Vabi\u0161\u010devi\u010d is a musician, singer, showman, host of “Papashi-show” program on Radio ONT, and soloist of the One Hell Thing band.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> On 6 November, the Minsk City Court opened the criminal trial of photographer Arciom Zia\u0144ko\u016d<\/strong>. He is charged under Article 361.2 of the Criminal Code (financing the activities of an extremist formation).<\/p>\n

II. Detentions and administrative trials<\/strong><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 1 November, it became known that Or\u0161a District Court sentenced former DOORS rock club head Alaksandr Muchin<\/strong> from Bara\u0144 to administrative arrest under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials) for subscribing to independent news outlets.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> On 4 November, the Or\u0161a District Court punished Natalla Sizincava<\/strong>, a history and social studies teacher at the local Gymnasium No. 2, mother of journalist Arciom Sizinca\u016d, author of the book At “Start” and in “Tempo”<\/em>. She received a 400BYN ($120) fine under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials).<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> On 6 November, the Pastavy District Court punished local historian Hienad\u017a Dziamidka<\/strong> and his wife Ala Dziamidka under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences (distribution of extremist materials) for subscribing to independent news outlets.<\/p>\n

III. Conditions in the places of incarceration<\/strong><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> Political prisoner and culturologist Vac\u0142a\u016d Are\u0161ka<\/strong>, sentenced to eight years in a medium-security penal colony, has had his health deteriorate significantly behind bars. A relative who lives abroad reported on his health condition: “He has retinal detachment, cataracts and glaucoma. Other prisoners now help him write home, so his letters are written in someone else’s hand, and he cannot aim at the rulers. He has a magnifying glass, and with its help, he tries to read books that he takes from the library.”<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> Relatives have not heard from the author of prison literature, Alaksandr Franckievi\u010d<\/strong>, for over a month. In June 2024, the Va\u016dkavysk District Court added another year in prison to Alaksandr Franckievi\u010d, sentenced to 16 years and nine months in a maximum-security penal colony. The new charges were based on Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the penal colony’s administration). Until the appeal was heard, he was held in the pre-trial detention centre No. 6 in Baranavi\u010dy. From there, he was transferred to a penal colony in early October. However, it remains unknown which colony. Since early October, his relatives have not received any letters from him or any messages from the correctional institution where he was sent to serve his sentence. Alaksandr Franckievi\u010d’s mother, Tacciana<\/strong>, is also in prison following criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

IV. Destruction of memorial sites<\/strong><\/h5>\n

On 2 November, it became known that a cross dedicated to the victims of communist repressions had disappeared from Lo\u0161ycki Park<\/strong> in Minsk. Artist Miko\u0142a Kupava<\/strong> created the cross in 1995.<\/p>\n

V. Repressions in the book sector<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The Ministry of Information has demanded that bookstores across the country audit their printed publications and remove from sale the books “the distribution of which could harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus.” The order covers the books that present a non-pro-government version of history and books published by non-state publishing houses or “disloyal” authors.<\/p>\n

VI. Closure of educational centres<\/strong><\/h5>\n

On 13 November, the AKC Most<\/strong> foreign language school in Brest stopped operations; its office was sealed. Founded in 2006, AKC Most offered classes in Polish and English. It was the largest foreign language learning centre in Brest and the Brest region.<\/p>\n

VII. Dismissals\u00a0from cultural institutions for\u00a0civic\u00a0activism<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In early November, the actors fired from the Theatre of Belarusian Dramaturgy were Maksim Brahiniec<\/strong>, Zmicier Davidovi\u010d<\/strong>, Arciom Kure\u0144,<\/strong> and Hanna Siemianiaka.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of\u00a015 November 2024, at least 170 cultural figures, including not less than 38\u00a0People of Word, were behind bars, also in home confinement. The Minsk City Court opened the trial of Siarhiej Hor\u0142a\u016d, musician and translator. Showman and singer Ivan Vabi\u0161\u010devi\u010d, aka Dziadzia Vania (Uncle Vania), was detained. The criminal trial of photographer Arciom Zia\u0144ko\u016d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":17591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-17566","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\/17566","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\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17566"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17594,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17566\/revisions\/17594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}