{"id":22925,"date":"2026-06-17T15:36:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=22925"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:29:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:29:39","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-chervenya-2026-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/06\/17\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-1-15-chervenya-2026-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (1-15 June 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 June 2026, at least 125 cultural figures, including at least 24 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books remained at 357.<\/b><\/p>\n

Kiry\u0142 \u0141ojka<\/b>, a translator of religious hymns into Belarusian and a member of a brass orchestra, was convicted in a politically motivated case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Special judicial proceedings were initiated against <\/span>Kaciaryna Mankievi\u010d<\/b>, vocalist of the band <\/span>Dymna Lotwa<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vocal coach <\/span>Sviat\u0142ana Karalova <\/b>was convicted in a politically motivated case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mass searches and interrogations were carried out targeting people affiliated with the <\/span>European Humanities University (EHU)<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Relatives have not received any letters from political prisoner and author of prison literature <\/span>Ihar Alinievi\u010d<\/b> for more than a month.<\/span><\/p>\n

A court declared the documentary film <\/span>Daroha na Kurapaty<\/b> (<\/span>Road to Kurapaty<\/span><\/i>), produced by the Belarusfilm studio in 1990 and dedicated to Stalinist repressions, \u201cextremist material\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

A court designated the Telegram channels and chats \u201c<\/span>Come here: Educational Events in Belarus and Beyond\u201d<\/i><\/b> and \u201c<\/span>Bie\u0142aruski Instytut Navuki j Mastactva \u2013 BINiM <\/b>(Belarusian Institute of Science and Art)\u201d as \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Facebook pages of the <\/span>Free Belarus Museum<\/b> and <\/span>Historyja Bie\u0142arusi<\/b> (<\/span>History of Belarus<\/span><\/i>) were added to the list of \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

1. <\/b>On 6 June, it became known that <\/span>Kiry\u0142 \u0141ojka<\/b>, a translator of religious hymns into Belarusian and a member of the <\/span>ChurchBrass<\/span><\/i> wind orchestra, had been convicted in a politically motivated case. The Minsk City Court sentenced him under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity) to restricted freedom in home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 8 June, it became known that <\/span>Kaciaryna Mankievi\u010d<\/b>, vocalist of the band <\/span>Dymna Lotwa<\/i><\/b>, had been placed under special proceedings to be tried in absentia, as she is outside Belarus. She is charged under Article 289-1(1) of the Criminal Code (propaganda of terrorism), Article 290-1(1) (financing terrorist activity), Article 361-4(1) and (2) (facilitating extremist activity), Article 366-1 (violence against or threats against Lukashenka), and Article 368(1) (insulting the president).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>3.<\/strong> On 15 June, it became known that vocalist and vocal coach at the music studio <\/span>Art-kvarta\u0142<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Sviat\u0142ana Karalova<\/b>, had been convicted in 2026 under Article 361-4(1) and (2) of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activity). The Minsk Regional Court sentenced her to home confinement. Karalova was a member of an art-folk band and performed at the Kupalle celebrations in Minsk in 2023 and at a Victory Day concert at the Palace of the Republic on 9 May 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

II. Persecution of persons affiliated with the European Humanities University<\/b><\/h5>\n

Between 1 and 4 June, mass searches and interrogations of people affiliated with the <\/span>European Humanities University (EHU)<\/b> took place in Belarus. The raids were conducted in connection with criminal investigations related to \u201cfacilitating extremist activity\u201d and \u201cfinancing extremist activity\u201d. As of 15 June, human rights defenders were aware of more than 60 searches.<\/span><\/p>\n

To pressure EHU students to return from Lithuania, the KGB reportedly threatened their parents with criminal prosecution. On 14 April 2026, the Supreme Court, following a request from the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, designated EHU an \u201cextremist organisation\u201d. In August 2025, EHU\u2019s social media accounts had already been declared \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the prosecution, the university \u201cconducts targeted activities aimed at destabilising the socio-political situation in the country\u201d and is \u201cused by the intelligence services of certain neighbouring states to harm Belarusian interests in the political, humanitarian, and information spheres.\u201d EHU was founded as a private university in Minsk in 1992, closed by the authorities in 2002, and resumed operations in Lithuania in 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

For more than a month, relatives have received no letters from political prisoner and author of prison literature <\/span>Ihar Alinievi\u010d<\/b>. For the sixth consecutive year, he has been held without visits, telephone calls, money transfers, medicines, food parcels, or, more recently, packages containing personal items.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013, Alinievi\u010d received the main award for the best work written in prison and became the first laureate of the <\/span>Franci\u0161ak Alachnovi\u010d Award<\/b>, established by <\/span>Radio Svaboda<\/span><\/i> and PEN Belarus. His prison diary <\/span>I Am Going to Magadan<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Jedu \u016d Mahadan<\/span><\/i>) was published in 2013 while he was serving a politically motivated sentence in the so-called \u201canarchists\u2019 case\u201d. The book has been translated into Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, English, German, Spanish, Czech, French, Polish, and Greek.<\/span><\/p>\n

IV. Designation of cinematic works as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 11 June, the Leninski District Court of Hrodna declared the film <\/span>Daroha na Kurapaty<\/b> (<\/span>Road to Kurapaty<\/span><\/i>), produced by the Belarusfilm studio in 1990, \u201cextremist material\u201d. According to the Belarusian Ministry of Information, the film had been distributed via the YouTube channel <\/span>Sergei<\/span><\/i>. Two other videos from the same channel were also added to the extremism list: <\/span>Belarusian Resistance for a Free State!<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Stalin Line<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film was directed by <\/span>Michai\u0142 \u017ddano\u016dski<\/b>, who co-wrote the script with <\/span>Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161uk<\/b>. <\/span>Zianon Pazniak<\/b> participated in its creation. For the documentary series <\/span>Daroha na Kurapaty<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>\u017dauruki Bie\u0142arusi<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Memories of Mika\u0142aj Ravenski<\/span><\/i>, \u017ddano\u016dski received the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daroha na Kurapaty<\/span><\/i> is a documentary testimony to the crimes committed by the Bolshevik regime against the Belarusian people and neighbouring nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

On 10 June, the Belarusian Ministry of Information added for the second time the Threads account of journalist, cultural blogger, and author of poems and songs <\/span>Valer Rusielik<\/b> (creator of the YouTube channel <\/span>Daroha<\/span><\/i>) to its list of extremist materials. The content of the account had already been declared extremist by a ruling of the Minsk District Court of Minsk Region on 17 April 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 2 June, the \u010cyhuna\u010dny District Court of Homie\u013a declared the Telegram channels and chats <\/span>Come here: Educational Events in Belarus and Beyond<\/b> and <\/span>Bie\u0142aruski Instytut Navuki j Mastactva (BINiM)<\/b> to be \u201cextremist materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 4 June, the Facebook pages of the <\/span>Free Belarus Museum<\/b> and <\/span>Historyja Bie\u0142arusi<\/b> (<\/span>History of Belarus<\/span><\/i>) were added to the list of extremist materials.<\/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 June 2026, at least 125 cultural figures, including at least 24 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books remained at 357. Kiry\u0142 \u0141ojka, a translator of religious<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":22940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-22925","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\/22925","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=22925"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22942,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22925\/revisions\/22942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}