{"id":21481,"date":"2026-01-05T18:44:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=21481"},"modified":"2026-02-06T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:38:08","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-31-snezhnya-2025-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/01\/05\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-31-snezhnya-2025-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-31 December 2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

To report a violation (including confidentially) or to correct data presented in the report, please contact us at\u00a0dapamoha@penbelarus.org\u00a0or t.me\/viadoma.<\/em><\/p>\n

As of 31 December 2025, at least 144 cultural figures, including 31 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n

Musician and translator <\/span>Ale\u015b \u010cumako\u016d <\/b>was arrested in connection with the case against the cultural initiative <\/span>Da Zora\u016d<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kiry\u0142 Kra\u016dco\u016d<\/b>, founder of the art village <\/span>\u010cyrvony Kastry\u010dnik<\/span><\/i> (Red October), was sentenced to four years in home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Volha Sitnik <\/b>(username <\/span>Homelka<\/i><\/b>), a Wikipedia author and administrator, was sentenced to home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a politically motivated case, <\/span>Valancina \u0141ohvin<\/b>, a Candidate of Biological Sciences and former head of the Ukrainian Culture Centre <\/span>Sich<\/i> in Minsk, was convicted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d<\/b>, head of the <\/span>Borysthenes<\/i>\u00a0historical club, was again detained under an administrative charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Translator <\/span>Siarhiej Pa\u016d\u0142avicki<\/b> reported on a ban on the study and use of foreign languages in Penal Colony No. 15 in Mahilo\u016d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Information added 52 books to the list of publications that \u201cmay cause harm to the national interests of the Republic of Belarus\u201d. The list includes the historical monograph by <\/span>Dorota Michaluk, <\/b>The Belarusian People\u2019s Republic in 1918\u20131920: At the Origins of Belarusian Statehood<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The State Security Committee (KGB) designated the cultural initiative <\/span>Da Zora\u016d<\/i><\/strong> as an \u201cextremist formation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Internal Affairs designated the Mahilo\u016d-based historical re-enactment (knightly) club <\/span>Borysthenes<\/i><\/strong> as an \u201cextremist formation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

A court designated the Telegram channel <\/span>PEN Belarus<\/i><\/b> as \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Authorities ordered the removal of works by photographer<\/span> Valeryj Viadrenka <\/b>from his album <\/span>The Irreversible<\/i> from an exhibition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 17 December, it became known that musician and translator <\/span>Ale\u015b \u010cumako\u016d<\/b> had been arrested in connection with the case against the cultural initiative <\/span>Da Zora\u016d<\/i><\/b>, which the State Security Committee (KGB) has designated an \u201cextremist formation\u201d. Ale\u015b \u010cumako\u016d is a member of the medieval music ensemble Stary Olsa. He plays the gusli, zhaleyka, and other traditional instruments. He has translated Irish heroic poetic works into Belarusian. He also performed the Belarusian version of the song <\/span>Toss a Coin to Your Witcher<\/span><\/i>, featured in the Belarusian-language dubbing of the Netflix series <\/span>The Witcher<\/span><\/i>. His translation of the song is titled <\/span>Ki\u0144 dukat vied\u017amaru <\/span><\/i>(Toss a Ducat to the Witcher).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 22 December, the Homiel Regional Court handed down a verdict against <\/span>Kiry\u0142 Kra\u016dco\u016d<\/b>, founder of the art village <\/span>\u010cyrvony Kastry\u010dnik<\/span><\/i> (Red October), under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity). The charges were brought for providing information to the Telegram channel <\/span>Belaruski Hajun<\/span><\/i>, which documented the movement of Russian troops in Belarus. <\/span>Kiry\u0142 Kra\u016dco\u016d<\/span> was sentenced to four years in home confinement. His arrest became known on 25 September 2025.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kiry\u0142 Kra\u016dco\u016d<\/span> founded the art village <\/span>\u010cyrvony Kastry\u010dnik<\/span><\/i> in the Re\u010dyca District, where he established a pottery workshop and organised festivals and creative gatherings. He also took part in the action <\/span>\u201cWith a Stool to the Ocean\u201d<\/span><\/i>, during which he travelled around much of the world by hitchhiking.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>3.<\/strong> On 23 December 2025, it became known that <\/span>Volha Sitnik<\/b> (username <\/span>Homelka<\/i><\/b>), an author and administrator of the Belarusian-language Wikipedia, had been sentenced to home confinement. Volha Sitnik was born on 24 January 1983. Since 2009, she has written Wikipedia articles on the history and culture of Belarus, as well as on historical figures, architectural monuments, flora, and fauna. She is the author of several thousand articles and approximately 200,000 edits. She lives in Minsk and has three underage children. On 17 April 2025, Volha Sitnik was detained for the first time in a politically motivated case but was released. On 7 May, she was detained again and spent 10 days in the detention centre on Akrescina Street. She was not released afterwards and was transferred to a pre-trial detention facility in connection with a politically motivated criminal case. She was held in Detention Centre No. 1. In June 2025, the security services used one of Volha Sitnik\u2019s Telegram accounts to disseminate information favourable to them in Belarusian diaspora chat groups. On 23 July 2025, human rights defenders recognised Volha Sitnik as a political prisoner. On 23 December 2025, it became known that she had been sentenced to home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>4.<\/strong> On 31 December, it became known that the Minsk City Court, in a politically motivated case, convicted <\/span>Valancina \u0141ohvin<\/b>, a Candidate of Biological Sciences and former head of the Ukrainian Culture Centre \u201cSich\u201d in Minsk. She was sentenced under three articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 130 (incitement of hatred and discord), Part 1 of Article 368 (insulting the President), and Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 (facilitating extremist activity). The Ukrainian Culture Centre <\/span>\u201cSich\u201d<\/span><\/i> in Minsk was liquidated in 2023. <\/span>Valancina \u0141ohvin<\/span> was sentenced to home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On 16 December, it became known that <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Stankievi\u010d<\/b>, a historical re-enactor and head of the historical club <\/span>Borysthenes<\/i><\/b>, had been detained again under an administrative charge and placed in a temporary detention facility.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> Translator <\/span>Siarhiej Pa\u016d\u0142avicki<\/b> reported a ban on the study and use of foreign languages in Penal Colony No. 15 in Mahilo\u016d. He also stated that the prison administration had removed dictionaries from the colony library. Siarhiej Pa\u016d\u0142avicki, a German-language translator and editor, was detained on 9 August 2024. On 1 October 2025, the Minsk City Court sentenced him to three years\u2019 imprisonment in a minimum-security penal colony under Part 1 of Article 361-2 of the Criminal Code (financing extremist activity) for making donations. On 27 December 2024, he was added to the <\/span>\u201cList of Citizens of Belarus, Foreign Nationals, and Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activity\u201d<\/span><\/i>. He served his sentence at Penal Colony No. 15. He was released on 13 December 2025 and forced into exile from Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2. Alaksandr Fiaduta<\/b>, a political scientist and literary scholar, Candidate of Philological Sciences and Doctor of Humanities, and a former political prisoner, who was released on 13 December 2025 as part of a group of 123 people and forced from Belarus into exile, stated:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was assigned to unskilled labour. A doctor who had been habilitated at the Jagiellonian University was forced to wash the workshop floors. After I had almost lost the ability to move around the workshop, I was made to sort wires, like everyone else. I cleaned copper wires. Since I was forbidden to use a knife, I did it by hand. I lost 40 kilograms in weight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Ihar Alinievi\u010d<\/b>, an author of prison literature and an activist in the anarchist movement, went on a month-long hunger strike in <\/span>Penal Colony No. 20 in Mazyr. He was subsequently hospitalised in the prison hospital in Kaladzi\u010dy, where he was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer.<\/span><\/p>\n

IV. Confiscation of manuscripts from released writers, former political prisoners<\/b><\/h5>\n

Political scientist and literary scholar <\/span>Alaksandr Fiaduta<\/b> reported that on 13 December, before his removal from the penal colony, prison authorities had confiscated his manuscripts. He noted that he was apparently deliberately prevented from packing his belongings himself and was told that his possessions had been loaded separately, with the manuscripts among them. One of the confiscated manuscripts was a film screenplay about the relationship between the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and Joseph Stalin.<\/span><\/p>\n

V. Book bans<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 29 December, the Ministry of Information added 52 books to the list of publications that \u201cmay cause harm to the national interests of the Republic of Belarus\u201d. The list includes the historical monograph <\/span>The Belarusian People\u2019s Republic in 1918\u20131920: At the Origins of Belarusian Statehood<\/i><\/b> by Polish researcher <\/span>Dorota Michaluk<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ministry of Information also banned two novels by Vladimir Sorokin, written in the mid-2000s \u2014 <\/span>Day of the Oprichnik<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Sugar Kremlin<\/span><\/i>; three books by Bayan Shyranov about the lives of people with drug addiction \u2014 <\/span>Low-Level Aerobatics<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Mid-Level Aerobatics<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>High-Level Aerobatics<\/span><\/i>; three books by Colin Butts about Ibiza (including <\/span>Ibiza Is a Verb<\/span><\/i>); <\/span>Junkie<\/span><\/i> by William S. Burroughs; <\/span>Roots of the Grass<\/span><\/i> by Mike Telwel; a collection of essays on the life and worldview of Timothy Leary; a work of fiction about Jim Morrison\u2019s journey through the world of the dead; and <\/span>Our Neighbours on the Planet: Stories about Wild Animals<\/span><\/i> by Bouvijn Jansen and Lotte Stegmann. The complete list of banned books is available at:<\/span> https:\/\/bannedbooks.penbelarus.org\/harmful_list<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

VI. Designation of cultural organisations as \u201cextremist formations\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 17 December, the State Security Committee (KGB) designated the initiative <\/span>Da Zora\u016d<\/i><\/strong> as an <\/span>\u201cextremist formation\u201d<\/span><\/i>. According to human rights defenders, detentions in connection with the <\/span>Da Zora\u016d<\/span><\/i> case took place in late November.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 17 December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs designated the Mahilo\u016d-based medieval knights\u2019 club<\/span> Borysthenes<\/i><\/b> as an \u201cextremist formation\u201d. Founded in the late 1990s, the club is part of the <\/span>Mahilo\u016d City Centre for Culture and Leisure. For decades, performances by the club\u2019s members had featured at major public celebrations and events in Mahilo\u016d and the surrounding region.<\/span><\/p>\n

VII. Designation of cultural organisations\u2019 social media as \u201cextremist materials\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 20 December, the <\/span>Liozna District Court of the Viciebsk Region designated the Telegram channel <\/span>PEN Belarus<\/i><\/strong> as \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

VIII. Censorship<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 18 December, authorities ordered the removal of works by photographer <\/span>Valeryj Viadrenka<\/b> from an exhibition organised by the <\/span>Minsk<\/span><\/i> club at the University of Culture Art Gallery. The removed works from the album <\/span>The Irreversible<\/i><\/b> depicted neglected architectural heritage sites in Belarus.<\/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\u00a0dapamoha@penbelarus.org\u00a0or t.me\/viadoma. As of 31 December 2025, at least 144 cultural figures, including 31 writers, were not free \u2013 either imprisoned or in home confinement. Musician and translator Ale\u015b \u010cumako\u016d was arrested in connection with the case against<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-21481","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\/21481","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=21481"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21647,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481\/revisions\/21647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}