{"id":21389,"date":"2025-12-17T08:11:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T08:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=21389"},"modified":"2026-02-06T10:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:38:50","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-snezhnya-2025-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/17\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-snezhnya-2025-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 December 2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

To report a violation (including confidentially) or to correct data presented in the report, please contact us at dapamoha@penbelarus.org or t.me\/viadoma.<\/em><\/p>\n

As of 15 December 2025, at least 146 cultural figures, including 31 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n

Poet and bard <\/span>Valery Pazniakievi\u010d<\/b> was sentenced to three years of forced labour in an open-type correctional facility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artist <\/span>Aksana \u0160alapina <\/b>was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for helping political prisoners.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wojciech Grabicki<\/b>, a choreographer who taught dance to people with disabilities, was convicted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Siarhiej Sa\u0142a\u0161, <\/b>described by<\/span> the State Security Committee (KGB) as the person involved in the activities of the <\/span>Sk\u0142ad Butelek<\/b> art space, was arrested.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, human rights defender and writer <\/span>Ale\u015b Bialacki<\/b> reported that he was transported from the penal colony across the entire territory of Belarus while blindfolded. Before his departure, the colony’s administration confiscated his manuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Political scientist and literary scholar <\/span>Alaksandr Fiaduta <\/b>also reported that his manuscripts were confiscated before he departed from the penal colony.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 1 December, it became known that on 14 August 2025, the Minsk District Court sentenced poet and bard <\/span>Valery Pazniakievi\u010d<\/b> to three years’ deprivation of liberty in an open-type correctional facility in Mahilo\u016d under Article 368(2) of the Criminal Code (insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus). <\/span>
\n<\/span>Valery Pazniakievi\u010d was detained on 20 November 2024 and subsequently convicted following a denunciation by a pro-Russian activist and an administrative arrest of 15 days for socio-political poems that he had published on social media. The poet stated that police officers took issue with the language of his works: “During the search of my flat on 20 November 2024, Police Major Kaciaryna Stankievi\u010d asked why I write in Belarusian rather than Russian.”<\/span>
\n<\/span>In 2025, Valery Pazniakievi\u010d was sentenced to administrative arrest on five occasions for poems and statements published on social media. From November 2024 onwards, his texts were subjected to expert examinations, with investigators searching for “extremism”. Scrutiny focused on the poems <\/span>My Golgotha<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Chagall’s Flight<\/span><\/i>. In 2024\u20132025, Valery Pazniakievi\u010d paid fines totalling 115 base units (4,830 BYN, approximately 1,660 USD) for online artistic expression.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 8 December, it became known that artist <\/span>Aksana \u0160alapina<\/b> was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for helping political prisoners. She was arrested on 24 June in Minsk in connection with a criminal case under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity). The trial began in November 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>3.<\/strong> On 12 December, it became known that <\/span>Wojciech Grabicki<\/b>, a choreographer who taught dance to people with disabilities, was convicted under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>4.<\/strong> On 12 December, it became known that on 12 November in Barysa\u016d, civic activist <\/span>Siarhiej Sa\u0142a\u0161<\/b> was arrested. The State Security Committee (KGB) described him as a person involved in the activities of the art space <\/span>Sk\u0142ad Butelek<\/b>, which was designated an “extremist formation”.<\/span><\/p>\n

II. Administrative persecution of cultural figures<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 9 December, it became known that in Mahilo\u016d, <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d (Pastucho\u016d)<\/b>, a historical reenactor and head of the <\/span>Borysthenes<\/span><\/i> knightly club, was released after serving two consecutive administrative arrests of 15 days each. In November, the social media accounts of the <\/span>Borysthenes<\/span><\/i> club and the personal pages of its head were designated as “extremist materials”.<\/span><\/p>\n

III. Inhuman treatment during forced deportation from the country<\/b><\/h5>\n

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, human rights defender and writer <\/span>Ale\u015b Bialacki<\/b> described how he was transported from the penal colony across the entire territory of Belarus to the border with Lithuania while blindfolded:<\/span><\/p>\n

“We travelled across Belarus from east to west. I should note that I was held in Penal Colony No. 9 in Horki, which is located virtually on the border with Russia, 14 kilometres away. I was transported with a blindfold. The blindfold was applied so that it was still possible to see through it. At least, I understood that we were heading west. I realised this when we passed near Minsk, travelling along the ring road, and when we turned onto the Vilnius highway; it became clear we were heading towards Vilnius.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When we approached Vilnius, there was a short stop. Then, in a forest, we waited for four hours until other vehicles arrived with other people who had been designated for this strange form of release \u2014 an amnesty or something else. I was not told whether this was an amnesty, some form of extradition, or anything else. To this day, no one has explained it to me; I did not sign any documents. I was simply taken somewhere.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The treatment was very restrained and careful \u2014 for the first time in many years. Although at the beginning I was in handcuffs and blindfolded, it was clear that we were getting closer and closer to freedom.”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

IV. Confiscation of manuscripts from released writers<\/b><\/h5>\n

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 13 December, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, human rights defender and writer <\/span>Ale\u015b Bialacki<\/b> reported that his manuscripts were confiscated before his removal from the penal colony.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I was the only person taken out of our colony. I was removed after a search following the seizure of the manuscripts of two of my books. They remained there \u2014 all my letters, all my papers, my notes relating to the criminal case. I was effectively not allowed to take any of this out of the colony. I was unable to remove a single piece of paper.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 14 December, political scientist and literary scholar <\/span>Alaksandr Fiaduta<\/b> reported that his manuscripts were confiscated before his removal from the penal colony.<\/span><\/p>\n

“My manuscripts were confiscated. They contained no political notes, no diaries, and no information relating to my imprisonment. They consisted of a film screenplay, two plays, and two notebooks of poems.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

V. Repression in the music field<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 8 December, the following music videos by the band <\/span>Dymna Lotva<\/b> published on YouTube were designated as “extremist materials”: <\/span>Death Kisses the Eyes<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>Buried Alive<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>To Those Who Have Passed Away<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>Changes!<\/i><\/b> (a cover of the song by <\/span>Kino<\/span><\/i>), <\/span>Live!<\/i><\/b>, and <\/span>I Am No More<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

VI. Designation of cultural initiatives as “extremist”<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 5 December, the State Security Committee (KGB) designated the event agencies <\/span>Terra Group Event<\/b> and <\/span>SSL Production<\/b>, as well as the art space <\/span>Sk\u0142ad Butelek<\/b> (Barysa\u016d), as an “extremist formation”.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To report a violation (including confidentially) or to correct data presented in the report, please contact us at dapamoha@penbelarus.org or t.me\/viadoma. As of 15 December 2025, at least 146 cultural figures, including 31 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement. Poet and bard Valery Pazniakievi\u010d was sentenced to three years of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-21389","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\/21389","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=21389"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21649,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21389\/revisions\/21649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}