As of\u00a030 April 2025, at least 163 cultural figures, including not less than 35\u00a0writers, were not free \u2013 imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n
A trial in absentia began in the criminal case against cultural manager <\/span>Alaksandr \u0141apko<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n The Investigative Committee initiated a new criminal case in absentia against political scientist, translator, and book editor <\/span>Ale\u015b \u0141ahviniec<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n Information emerged regarding the possible detention of Belarusian Wikipedia administrator <\/span>Volha Sitnik<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n A court in Belarus designated the social media pages of the <\/span>Dzieciuki<\/b> band, its logo, and “any visual material or text of Dzieciuki, with or without inscriptions,” as “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 18 April, the Homiel Regional Court began a trial in absentia in a criminal case against seven civil society activists, including cultural manager <\/span>Alaksandr \u0141apko.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 26 April, it became known that the Investigative Committee had initiated a new criminal case in absentia against political scientist, translator, and book editor <\/span>Ale\u015b \u0141ahviniec<\/b>, located outside Belarus. The case was opened following a series of interviews he had given to independent media outlets. The new criminal case stems from the same four articles of the Criminal Code used to convict \u0141ahviniec in 2024. On 1 July 2024, he was sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison in the “20 Experts” case under the following articles: Article 361 of the Criminal Code (calls for actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus), Article 357 of the Criminal Code (conspiracy to seize power by unconstitutional means), Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code (creation or participation in an extremist formation), Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hatred or discord).<\/span><\/p>\n On 16 April, information emerged regarding the possible detention of Belarusian Wikipedia administrator <\/span>Volha Sitnik<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 24 April, political prisoner, civic activist, and musician <\/span>Maryja Kalesnikava<\/b> turned 43 in Homiel’s women’s penal colony. According to her sister, Ta\u0441ciana Chomi\u010d, Maria Kalesnikava continues to work in the sewing workshop. The prison administration accepts no parcels for her, and the family cannot send her money transfers, which means Maryja cannot buy foodstuffs in the prison shop. There is no communication \u2014 no letters, phone calls, parcels, or visits from her family.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 18 April, a former political prisoner who served time in Penal Colony No. 22 in Ivacevi\u010dy told human rights defenders about the health condition of 70-year-old cultural scholar <\/span>Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d Are\u0161ka<\/b>: “He tried to obtain disability status due to poor eyesight, as he cannot see beyond arm’s length. But the prison authorities took no action.”<\/span><\/p>\n On 24 April, the Leninski District Court of Hrodna declared the social media accounts of the <\/span>Dzieciuki<\/b> band, its logo, and “any visual material or text, with or without inscriptions” as “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n On 26 April, three security officers questioned the father-in-law and mother-in-law of <\/span>Ale\u015b \u0141ahviniec<\/b> and, in their presence, sealed his house as per the 31 March 2025 decision by investigator A. \u0160rubik.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of\u00a030 April 2025, at least 163 cultural figures, including not less than 35\u00a0writers, were not free \u2013 imprisoned or in home confinement. A trial in absentia began in the criminal case against cultural manager Alaksandr \u0141apko. The Investigative Committee initiated a new criminal case in absentia against political scientist, translator, and book editor Ale\u015b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":19037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-18975","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\/18975","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=18975"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18995,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions\/18995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers<\/b><\/h5>\n
II. Administrative persecution<\/b><\/h5>\n
III. Conditions in the places of incarceration<\/b><\/h5>\n
IV. Repression in the music sphere<\/b><\/h5>\n
<\/b>V. <\/b>Persecution of relatives of cultural figures\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n