{"id":21806,"date":"2026-03-02T12:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=21806"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:45:06","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-28-lyutaga-2026-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/03\/02\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-28-lyutaga-2026-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-28 February 2026)"},"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 28 February 2026, at least 146 cultural figures, including not less than 30 writers, were not free, either imprisoned or in home confinement.<\/b><\/p>\n

Singer <\/span>Raman Jurko\u016d<\/b> was sentenced to home confinement for comments made on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mass detentions of <\/span>publishers and book distributors<\/b> took place in Minsk.<\/span><\/p>\n

The founder of the cultural project <\/span>K\u00ecnakong<\/i><\/b>, Andrej Kim<\/b> was detained.<\/span><\/p>\n

The publishing house <\/span>Technalohija<\/i><\/b> announced the closure of its operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The website of <\/span>PEN<\/b> Belarus<\/b> and the organisation\u2019s social media pages were designated \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The social media accounts of the cultural publication <\/span>Palatno<\/i><\/b> and the Instagram pages of the publishing house <\/span>Gutenberg Publisher<\/i><\/b> were also declared \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The children\u2019s book by <\/span>Elija\u0161 Bart<\/b>, <\/span>Jah: The Legend of the Stolen Heart<\/i><\/b>, was added to the list of \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

16 new books<\/b> were added to the list of printed publications which \u201cmay harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus,\u201d according to the authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On 18 February, it became known that pro-government singer <\/span>Raman Jurko\u016d<\/b> had been convicted for comments he posted online in 2020 during the mass protests. In September 2025, the Minsk City Court sentenced him under Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hostility) to home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

II. Detentions of cultural figures\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 17\u201318 February, mass detentions of publishers and book distributors took place in Minsk. Searches were carried out at the homes of managers, employees, and entrepreneurs involved in book distribution. The police checked the phones of everyone present at the premises.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Bahdanovi\u010d<\/b> family was detained: spouses <\/span>Alena <\/b>and <\/span>Vac\u0142a\u016d Bahdanovi\u010d<\/b> together with their daughters <\/span>Antanina<\/b> and <\/span>Viktoryja<\/b>. They were detained in connection with their work with the publishing house <\/span>Technalohija<\/i><\/b>. Only Alena and Antanina Bahdanovi\u010d were released. Vacla\u016d Bahdanovi\u010d and Viktoryja Bahdanovi\u010d, authors of books in Belarusian, remained behind bars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Translator and publisher <\/span>Zmicier Ko\u0142as<\/b> was arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 18 February Andrej Kim was detained in Minsk. The reasons for their detention remain unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrej Kim<\/b> is the founder of the Belarusian film project <\/span>Kinakong<\/span><\/i> (2012), which focuses on professional translation and dubbing of movies, animated films, trailers and videos into the Belarusian language, and on organising film screenings in various cities across Belarus. <\/span>Kinakong<\/span><\/i> became one of the best-known initiatives promoting Belarusian-language dubbing and making world cinema accessible in Belarusian. Among the full-length animated films dubbed by the project are <\/span>Inside Out<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Inside Out 2<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Soul<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Luca<\/span><\/i>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Ja\u016dhien Bur\u0142o<\/b>, a political prisoner and musician of <\/span>Tor Band<\/span><\/i>, underwent surgery due to osteoporosis in both legs. He now walks with crutches and endured months of suffering behind bars, former political prisoner, journalist and blogger <\/span>Ihar \u0141osik<\/b> reported on social media. He wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe urgently needs surgery on the second leg. He cannot walk properly, and imagine what it is like to live in such a condition in a prison camp.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

IV. Closure of publishing houses\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 21 February, the publishing house <\/span>Technalohija<\/i><\/b> announced that it was ceasing its operations. The day before, mass detentions of publishers and book distributors had taken place in Minsk. The publishing house <\/span>Technalohija<\/span><\/i> was founded in 1988.<\/span><\/p>\n

V. Designation of authors and performers\u2019 social media as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

The Puchavi\u010dy District Court designated the Instagram page of <\/span>Dzianis Zoryn<\/b> \u201cextremist material\u201d. In 2020, Dzianis Zorin was arrested in a politically motivated administrative case and later wrote a book about the conditions of detention.<\/span><\/p>\n

VI. Designation of cultural organisations\u2019 websites and social media as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 16 February 2026, the \u010cyhuna\u010dny District Court of Homie\u013a ruled to designate the website of <\/span>PEN Belarus<\/b> and the organisation\u2019s social media pages as \u201cextremist\u201d. The following PEN Belarus pages were declared \u201cextremist\u201d: Facebook page \u201cBie\u0142aruski PEN \/ PEN Belarus\u201d (<\/span>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/penbelarus.org<\/span><\/a>), X page (formerly Twitter) \u201cPEN Belarus\u201d (<\/span>https:\/\/x.com\/pen_belarus<\/span><\/a>), Linktree page \u201c@pen_belarus\u201d (<\/span>https:\/\/linktr.ee\/pen_belarus<\/span><\/a>), website of PEN Belarus (<\/span>https:\/\/penbelarus.org<\/span><\/a>), YouTube channel \u201cPEN Belarus\u201d (<\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@PENBelarus<\/span><\/a>), Patreon page \u201cPEN Belarus\u201d (<\/span>https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/PENBelarusBY<\/span><\/a>). Earlier, PEN Belarus pages on Telegram (<\/span>https:\/\/t.me\/PENBelarus<\/span><\/a>) and Instagram (<\/span>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pen_belarus<\/span><\/a>) had also been designated \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> The social media accounts of the cultural publication <\/span>Palatno<\/i><\/b> were declared \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>3.<\/strong> The Instagram pages of the publishing house <\/span>Gutenberg Publisher<\/i><\/b> were declared \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

VII. Designation of publishing houses as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 16 February, the KGB designated the Belarusian publishing house <\/span>Gutenberg Publisher<\/i><\/b> an \u201cextremist formation\u201d. The publisher\u2019s website states:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Belarusian publishing house Gutenberg Publisher has an office in Krak\u00f3w. Belarusians who were forced to leave their homeland work here. We aim to create popular Belarusian books and board games. On 16 February 2026, the KGB of Belarus declared the publishing house an extremist formation. Please take this into account if you live in Belarus.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 18 February 2026, Partyzanski District Court of Minsk ruled to add the book by <\/span>Elija\u0161 Bart<\/b> Jah: The Legend of the Stolen Heart<\/i><\/b> to the \u201cList of Extremist Materials\u201d. The children\u2019s book tells the story of a dinosaur named Jah who fought against the invaders of his native island. Inclusion of the book in the \u201cList of Extremist Materials\u201d entails severe legal consequences, including administrative liability for producing, publishing, storing or transporting the banned book.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 26 February 2026, 16 new books were added to the list of printed publications which, according to the authorities, \u201cmay harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus\u201d. The list includes works that are significant contributions to world literature and culture, among them: <\/span>Victor Pelevin<\/b>, <\/span>Methuselah\u2019s Lamp, or The Last Battle of the Chekists and Masons<\/i><\/b>, <\/span>Madeline Miller<\/b>, <\/span>The Song of Achilles<\/i><\/b> (winner of the Women\u2019s Prize for Fiction, Orange Prize 2012), <\/span>Jean-Christophe Grang\u00e9<\/b>, <\/span>The Forest of the Dead.<\/i><\/b> The full list of books banned in Belarus is available at: <\/span>https:\/\/bannedbooks.penbelarus.org<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\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 28 February 2026, at least 146 cultural figures, including not less than 30 writers, were not free, either imprisoned or in home confinement. Singer Raman Jurko\u016d was sentenced to home confinement for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-21806","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\/21806","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=21806"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22183,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21806\/revisions\/22183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}