As of 30 November 2025, at least 161 cultural figures, including 34 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n
Following the completion of his administrative detention, <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d<\/b>, head of the \u201cBorysthenes\u201d knightly club, was not released.<\/span><\/p>\n A piano teacher from Viciebsk, <\/span>Tacciana \u0141ukjanava<\/b>, was convicted under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code.<\/span><\/p>\n An English teacher, <\/span>Alaksandra Dubro\u016dskaja<\/b>, received a prison sentence for \u201ccreating an extremist formation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Police searched the flat of the parents of journalist <\/span>Iryna \u0421halip<\/b>. Her father, <\/span>U\u0142adzimir Chalip<\/b>, is a well-known screenwriter and art historian.<\/span><\/p>\n The books <\/span>The Elephant<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Red Cross<\/span><\/i> by <\/span>Sa\u0161a Filipienka (Sasha Filipenko)<\/b> were declared \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Authorities banned an exhibition by the artist <\/span>Siarhiej Ryma\u0161e\u016dski<\/b>, entitled <\/span>Cardiogram<\/i><\/b>, in Minsk.<\/span><\/p>\n The website <\/span>kirma.sh<\/b>, offering Belarusian books and souvenirs, was blocked by order of the prosecutor.<\/span><\/p>\n Radio Plato\u2019s<\/b> social media pages were designated as \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n A court ruled that the Instagram account of the independent Belarusian publishing house <\/span>rozum.media<\/b> was \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n A souvenir \u201cChristmas Shop\u201d selling festive baubles featuring portraits of writers was closed as part of an ongoing investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n The independent creative space \u201c<\/span>Monochrome<\/b>\u201d closed in Minsk.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 28 November, after completing his term of administrative detention, <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d<\/b>, head of the \u201cBorysthenes\u201d knightly club from Mahilio\u016d, was not released. He had been detained on 3 November and sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. Two other individuals connected with \u201cBorysthenes\u201d were also detained, though no details about them have been made public.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 29 November, it was reported that a piano teacher from Viciebsk, <\/span>Tacciana \u0141ukjanava<\/b>, had been sentenced to home confinement under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity), reportedly in connection with the \u201cBie\u0142aruski Hajun\u201d case \u2013 a chat group for sharing information about the movement of Russian military equipment through Belarus. Tacciana has over 20 years of experience as an accompanist.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>3.<\/strong> On 30 November, it was reported that the Mahilo\u016d Regional Court, in a criminal case against members of the neighbourhood chat groups, had sentenced English teacher <\/span>Alaksandra Dubro\u016dskaja<\/b> to a term in a penal colony under Part 3 of Article 361\u00b9 of the Criminal Code (creating an extremist formation). She had been arrested at the end of 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n On 27 November, police searched the Minsk flat of journalist <\/span>Iryna Chalip\u2019s<\/b> parents. Iryna\u2019s father, <\/span>U\u0142adzimir Chalip<\/b>, is a well-known screenwriter and art historian. The Belarusian Prosecutor\u2019s Office is conducting a criminal case against Iryna Chalip, who currently lives outside Belarus. Police officers presented a warrant stating that the search was being conducted as part of a criminal case under an \u201cextremism\u201d-related article. They questioned Iryna\u2019s mother, Lucyna Bialzackaja, attempting to establish Iryna\u2019s current whereabouts.<\/span><\/p>\n On 24 November, an exhibition by the artist <\/span>Siarhiej Ryma\u0161e\u016dski<\/b>, entitled <\/span>Cardiogram<\/i><\/b>, was banned in Minsk. The exhibition had been scheduled to run from 25 November to 13 December at the \u201cMastactva\u201d gallery of the Artists\u2019 Union on Independence Avenue.<\/span><\/p>\n On 19 November, Minsk\u2019s Partyzanski District Court declared the pages of <\/span>Radio Plato<\/b> \u201cextremist\u201d, including its Telegram, Instagram and VKontakte accounts, as well as the project\u2019s website. Radio Plato is an independent internet radio station based in Minsk. Its project description states: \u201cWe write about the local music scene, host programmes and publish podcasts. This is what we do to strengthen the community and popularise it around the world.\u201d<\/span> <\/b>1.<\/strong> On 17 November, it was reported that <\/span>Sa\u0161a Filipienka\u2019s (Sasha Filipenko\u2019s)<\/b> books <\/span>The Elephant<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>The Red Cross<\/i><\/b> (Krak\u00f3w: Gutenberg Publisher, 2025) had been declared \u201cextremist\u201d, according to the 13 November ruling of Minsk\u2019s Kastry\u010dnicki District Court. In September, authorities added these books to the list of publications banned for distribution in Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>2.<\/strong> On 18 November 2025, the Lida District Court ruled that the Instagram account of the independent Belarusian publisher <\/span>rozum.media<\/b> was \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>3.<\/strong> On 20 November, the <\/span>kirma.sh<\/b> website, selling Belarusian books and souvenirs, was blocked by order of the Prosecutor of the Mahilo\u016d Region. It was reported that the site had made available for purchase materials designated as \u201cextremist\u201d, including the book <\/span>Fatherland: A Picturesque History<\/i><\/b>, the popular-science publication <\/span>Bitter Years: The Tragedy of Western Belarus 1944\u20131954<\/i><\/b>, and <\/span>Hidden Heritage: Tales of Belarusian Women<\/i><\/b>, published by the ByProsvet initiative, which itself had previously been declared an \u201cextremist formation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n On 30 November, the independent creative space <\/span>Monochrome<\/i><\/b> in Minsk was closed. In a message to their audience, the venue’s founders stated: \u201cUnfortunately, circumstances have proved stronger than us, and we are forced to put an end to this story.\u201d <\/span>Monochrome<\/span><\/i> was the base of the Cinemascope initiative, led by film enthusiasts <\/span>Volha Nadolskaja<\/b> and <\/span>Hiera Hlik<\/b>. The space regularly hosted screenings, retrospectives of world cinema classics, themed programmes, classical music concerts, presentations, and discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n On 15 November, the premises of <\/span>Kaladnaja Krama<\/b> (Christmas Shop), a souvenir shop in Minsk which sold Christmas baubles featuring writers, were closed as part of a criminal investigation. Following a complaint by a pro-Russian propagandist, the shop removed from sale the Christmas baubles depicting the Belarusian poet and political figure <\/span>\u0141arysa Hieniju\u0161<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u0141arysa Hieniju\u0161 (1910\u20131983) was arrested in Prague in 1948 and extradited to the BSSR. In February 1949,\u00a0 the Supreme Court of the BSSR sentenced her to 25 years in labour camps for \u201cassistance to the international bourgeoisie\u201d. While imprisoned, she wrote poems that circulated in manuscript form among prisoners. The prisoners called the poems \u201cglucose\u201d because they gave them the strength to live. She was released in 1956 and resided in Zelva. Until the end of her life, she refused to accept Soviet citizenship.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe rehabilitation of \u0141arysa Hieniju\u0161 has been proposed repeatedly, but the Supreme Court has ruled that there are no grounds for her rehabilitation,\u201d the Prosecutor\u2019s Office stated in November 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of 30 November 2025, at least 161 cultural figures, including 34 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement. Following the completion of his administrative detention, Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d, head of the \u201cBorysthenes\u201d knightly club, was not released. A piano teacher from Viciebsk, Tacciana \u0141ukjanava, was convicted under Parts 1 and 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-21301","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\/21301","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=21301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21310,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21301\/revisions\/21310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u0406. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors, and performers<\/b><\/h5>\n
\u0406\u0406. Persecution of the families of Belarusians forced into exile<\/b><\/h5>\n
III. Censorship<\/b><\/h5>\n
IV. Designation of cultural social media accounts as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n
\n<\/span>On 20 November, Radio Plato was designated an \u201cextremist formation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n V. Repression in the book sector<\/b><\/h5>\n
VI. Prohibition of cultural initiatives<\/b><\/h5>\n
VII. Ideological censorship\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n