{"id":21741,"date":"2026-02-17T16:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=21741"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:41:18","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-lyutaga-2026-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/02\/17\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-lyutaga-2026-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1\u201315 February 2026)"},"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 15 February 2026, at least 147 cultural figures, including not less than 30 writers, were not free, either imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n

A new politically motivated criminal case was initiated against <\/span>Sa\u0161a Filipienka<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photographer <\/span>Palina Vieramiaj\u010duk<\/b> was convicted in a politically motivated criminal case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Searches and interrogations took place at the <\/span>Parason<\/b> creative space in Minsk. Three people were detained.<\/span><\/p>\n

An event titled <\/span>Valentine\u2019s Day with Woody Allen<\/b> was cancelled at the Ha\u016dry\u0142a Va\u0161\u010danka Art Gallery in Homiel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Prosecutor\u2019s Office discovered \u201cextremist books\u201d on marketplaces and booksellers\u2019 websites.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\u0406. Criminal prosecution of cultural figures, authors and performers<\/b><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 5 February, it became known that a new politically motivated criminal case had been initiated against writer <\/span>Sa\u0161a Filipienka <\/b>(Sasha Filipenko) under Part 2 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity) for an interview given to the YouTube channel \u201cObychnoe utro\u201d. A search was conducted at his home in Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sa\u0161a Filipienka<\/b> reported on his Facebook page: \u201c<\/span>Today another search took place at my home. This time the case has been opened under Article 361, Part 2. According to the new article, I face another 5-7 years for speaking about my books.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On 30 September 2025, the Ministry of Information added his novel <\/span>The Elephant<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0to the list of publications \u201cthe distribution of which is capable of causing harm to the national interests of the Republic of Belarus\u201d. <\/span>Sa\u0161a Filipienka<\/b> supported the 2020 protests and was subsequently forced to leave Belarus. On 14 February 2024, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against him under Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of social hatred and discord).<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> On 10 February, it became known that photographer <\/span>Palina Vierami\u0430j\u010duk<\/b> had been convicted by the Brest Regional Court in a politically motivated criminal case under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity), reportedly in connection with the so-called <\/span>\u201cBelarusian Hajun\u201d<\/span><\/i> case for messages sent to a monitoring chat about the movement of Russian military equipment across the territory of Belarus. <\/span>Palina Vieramiaj\u010duk<\/b> began her career in wedding photography. In 2023, she described herself on Instagram as a \u201cwomen\u2019s photographer\u201d, specialising in female portraiture and fashion photography, including work published in <\/span>Vogue<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On 10 February, it became known that searches and interrogations took place at the <\/span>Parason<\/b> creative space in Minsk. Three individuals were detained. <\/span>Parason<\/b> hosted workshops and cultural events dedicated to Belarusian culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On 13 February, former political prisoner and human rights defender <\/span>U\u0142adzimir \u0141abkovi\u010d<\/b> reported on Facebook that in August 2023 the administration of Penal Colony No. 17 in \u0160k\u0142o\u016d displayed Russian flags throughout the facility. According to him, the flags were later removed following a visit by a commission from the Department of Corrections and replaced with the Department\u2019s flag.<\/span><\/p>\n

IV. Designation of cultural figures\u2019 social media as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 3 February 2026, the Puchavi\u010dy District Court of Minsk Region designated as \u201cextremist information products\u201d the Instagram account <\/span>caesarissimus<\/b> belonging to former political prisoner, journalist and populariser of history <\/span>Ja\u016dhien Mierkis<\/b>, who had previously been sentenced to four years\u2019 imprisonment for cooperation with Belsat TV. <\/span>Ja\u016dhien Mierkis<\/b> was released on 11 September 2025 and forcibly expelled to Lithuania.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> On 5 February 2026, the Puchavi\u010dy District Court of Minsk Region designated as \u201cextremist\u201d the Instagram profile of <\/span>Pava\u0142 Chadzinski<\/b>, known for documenting the Catholic Church in Belarus through photography. In addition to personal photographs, his profile featured numerous images with bishops. He is currently in exile.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

In Homiel, the event <\/span>Valentine\u2019s Day with Woody Allen<\/b> was cancelled at the Ha\u016dry\u0142a Va\u0161\u010danka Art Gallery. The programme had included a screening and discussion of romantic comedy-drama <\/span>Annie Hall<\/b>, as well as games and visits to exhibitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

VI. Banned books<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 6 February, it became known that the Prosecutor\u2019s Office had discovered \u201cextremist books\u201d on marketplaces and booksellers\u2019 websites. Among them were Russian-language translations of German memoirs about the Second World War: <\/span>the memoirs of the Hitlerite general Heinz Guderian, \u201cPanzer Leader\u201d, the diaries of the commander of Army Group Centre, Fedor von Bock \u2014 published in Russian as \u201cI Stood at the Gates of Moscow\u201c (Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock: The War Diary 1939\u20131945) and <\/span>Leningrad \u201cBlitzkrieg\u201d 1941\u20131942 (based on the war diaries of Wilhelm von Leeb and Franz Halder). The owners of the marketplaces and bookshops were issued orders requiring the removal of these books from sale.<\/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 15 February 2026, at least 147 cultural figures, including not less than 30 writers, were not free, either imprisoned or in home confinement. A new politically motivated criminal case was initiated against Sa\u0161a Filipienka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-21741","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\/21741","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=21741"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21756,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21741\/revisions\/21756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}