As of 31 May 2025, at least 154 cultural figures, including 36 writers, were not free \u2013 imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n
Cultural promoter and owner of the ethno-shop “Cudo\u016dnia,”<\/span> Andrej Niesciarovi\u010d,<\/b> was sentenced to one and a half years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility.<\/span><\/p>\n Journalist and non-fiction writer<\/span> Alena Pankratava<\/b> was sentenced to restricted freedom without placement in a correctional facility (home confinement).<\/span><\/p>\n A court in Belarus found activist and cultural promoter<\/span> Nina Bahinskaja <\/b>guilty of “repeated violations of the law on mass gatherings”. However, the judge ruled that a conviction without sentencing was warranted under Article 79 of the Criminal Code and ordered “preventive supervision” for the 78-year-old activist.<\/span><\/p>\n The administrator of Belarusian Wikipedia, <\/span>Maksim Lepu\u0161enka, <\/b>was detained.<\/span><\/p>\n Communication with non-fiction writer<\/span> Cina Pa\u0142ynskaja<\/b> stopped.<\/span><\/p>\n A Belarus court designated as “extremist” the Instagram page of the London-based Belarusian publishing house<\/span> “Skaryna”<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n The Instagram page of writer<\/span> Sa\u0161a Filipienka (Sasha Filipienka)<\/b> was labelled “extremist” by a court in Belarus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The court designated as “extremist” the non-fiction books: <\/span>Ukrainian Night: Very Personal Stories of the Revolution<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>Where There Is No Darkness: Radio Svaboda.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n A court declared “extremist” the detective novel <\/span>Murder on Makajonka Street<\/i><\/b>, allegedly written by artificial intelligence and partially related to the 2020 protests.<\/span><\/p>\n The Ministry of Information added 18 items to the list of printed publications banned for distribution in Belarus. Among them is <\/span>The Wasp Factory<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n A court designated the website and social media pages associated with a political prisoner and prison literature author, <\/span>Miko\u0142a Dziadok, <\/b>as “extremist materials”.<\/span><\/p>\n A court declared the song <\/span>“Run, Lukashenko, to Rostov!”<\/b> to be “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n A court labelled the Facebook page of musician, writer, and artist<\/span> Lavon Volski<\/b> as “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n In the village of Ma\u0142yja Siachnovi\u010dy in the Brest region, the bust of<\/span> Tadevu\u0161 Kasciu\u0161ka (Tadeusz Ko\u015bciuszko)<\/b>, leader of the 1794 national liberation uprising, was dismantled.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 16 May, a court in Hrodna sentenced Belarusian cultural promoter and owner of the ethno-shop “Cudo\u016dnia”<\/span> Andrej Niesciarovi\u010d<\/b>, under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organising, preparing, or actively participating in actions that grossly violate public order) to one year and six months of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility. Andrej Niesciarovi\u010d was detained on 7 February 2025 and held in Prison No. 1 in Hrodna before trial.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 18 May, reports appeared that journalist and non-fiction author<\/span> Alena Pankratava<\/b> was convicted for participating in the 2020 post-election protests under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organising, preparing or actively participating in actions that grossly violate public order) to restricted freedom without placement in an open-type correctional facility (home confinement).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>3.<\/strong> On 30 May, Minsk’s Pier\u0161amajski District Court conducted a hearing against 78-year-old civil activist and cultural promoter<\/span> Nina Bahinskaja <\/b>under Article 342-2 of the Criminal Code (repeated violation of the procedure for organising or holding mass events) for displaying national symbols on the streets of Minsk in 2024. The charges were based on administrative offence reports and court rulings from 2024 related to the use of national symbols. One offence report was filed over a T-shirt with the slogan “No to war!”<\/span> <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 15 May, the administrator of the Belarusian Wikipedia,<\/span> Maksim Lepu\u0161enka<\/b>, who wrote about Belarusian history, culture, and literature, was detained in Minsk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 19 May, non-fiction writer<\/span> Cina Pa\u0142ynskaja<\/b> stopped responding to communications. In June 2022, she was fined 3,200 BYN (approximately $1,230) for wearing yellow and blue ribbons, while the Investigative Committee launched a probe into her anti-war posts on Facebook. On 5 June 2022, police searched her apartment.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 15 May, the Ma\u0142adzie\u010dna District Court labelled the Instagram page of the London-based Belarusian publisher<\/span> “Skaryna”<\/b> as “extremist.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 15 May, in connection with a criminal case in Russia against employees of the publisher <\/span>Eksmo <\/b>on “extremism” charges, the Ministry of Information of Belarus demanded that book distributors “conduct an audit of the printed publications on sale”.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>3.<\/strong> On 19 May, Minsk’s Saviecki District Court declared the Instagram page of writer<\/span> Sa\u0161a Filipienka (Sasha Filipienka) <\/b>to be “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>4.<\/strong> On 23 May, Minsk’s Kastry\u010dnicki District Court designated two non-fiction books as “extremist”: <\/span>Ukrainian Night: Very Personal Stories of the Revolution<\/i><\/strong> by <\/span>Marci Shore<\/b> and <\/span>Where There Is No Darkness: Radio Svaboda<\/i><\/strong> by <\/span>Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161uk<\/b>, the former long-time head of Radio Svaboda’s Belarusian service.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>5.<\/strong> On 23 May, <\/span>Minsk’s Kastry\u010dnicki District Court <\/span>declared the book <\/span>Murder on Makajonka Street<\/i><\/b> “extremist.” This detective novel was published by <\/span>Belarusian Audiobooks<\/span><\/i>, a publisher that claims the book was written by artificial intelligence at their request, based on selected prose works from contemporary Belarusian literature, news from 2020\u20132022, and plots from the “golden age of British detective fiction”. The author is listed as <\/span>Klok \u0160tu\u010dny<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/b>6.<\/strong> On 29 May, the Ministry of Information added 18 more books to the list of printed publications banned from distribution in Belarus. The list now includes 110 items. Among the newly forbidden books is <\/span>The Wasp Factory<\/i><\/b> \u2013 the globally renowned novel by Scottish writer <\/span>Iain Banks<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>7.<\/strong> On 29 May, Minsk’s Central District Court designated the website and social media pages associated with political prisoner and prison literature author <\/span>Miko\u0142a Dziadok <\/b>as “extremist materials”.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 20 May, the Homiel District Court labelled the song <\/span>“Run, Lukashenko, to Rostov!”<\/i><\/b> (Full title: <\/span>“Run, Lukashenko, to Rostov! A Ceausescu Fate for Sasha | <\/span><\/i>Karamelka Cover\/Remix (Aleksin) on Guitar) by <\/span>S. Maroza\u016d<\/b> as “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 27 May, Brest’s Leninski District Court designated the Facebook page of musician, writer, and artist <\/span>Lavon Volski<\/b> as “extremist”. Previously, Lavon Volski’s Telegram channel and Instagram page were also labelled “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n On 20 May, reports appeared that in the village of Malyja Siachnovi\u010dy, Brest Region, a bust of <\/span>Tadevu\u0161 Kasciu\u0161ka (Tadeusz Ko\u015bciuszko)<\/b>, the leader of the national liberation uprising of 1794, was dismantled. Created by sculptor<\/span> Balbina \u015awitycz-Widacka<\/b> in 1932, the bust was installed in 1988 on the grounds of the former Kasciu\u0161ka estate. Mentions of Tadevu\u0161 Kasciu\u0161ka have also disappeared from the website of the local history museum near which the bust stood. Previously, the museum featured a dedicated exhibit on his life, which has since been replaced with a new theme: <\/span>“Crimes of Fascism. Genocide of the Belarusian People During the Great Patriotic War”.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Tadevu\u0161 Kasciu\u0161ka lived in Malyja Siachnovi\u010dy for four years after returning from the United States, where he had participated in the War of Independence. He is considered a national hero of Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and the United States and is an honorary citizen of France.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of 31 May 2025, at least 154 cultural figures, including 36 writers, were not free \u2013 imprisoned or in home confinement. Cultural promoter and owner of the ethno-shop “Cudo\u016dnia,” Andrej Niesciarovi\u010d, was sentenced to one and a half years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility. Journalist and non-fiction writer Alena Pankratava was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":19334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-19328","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\/19328","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=19328"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19336,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19328\/revisions\/19336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/b>I. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers<\/b><\/h5>\n
\n<\/span>The court<\/span> found<\/span> Nina Bahinskaja <\/b>guilty of “repeated violation of the law on mass events” but applied Article 79 of the Criminal Code (conviction without sentencing), assigning “preventive supervision” for the activist.<\/span><\/p>\nII. Administrative persecution\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n
III<\/b>. Repression in the publishing sector and book bans<\/b><\/h5>\n
IV. Repression in the music sphere<\/b><\/h5>\n
V. Destruction of memorial sites<\/b><\/h5>\n