{"id":23539,"date":"2026-08-01T07:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=23539"},"modified":"2026-08-04T18:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:54:29","slug":"hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-31-lipenya-2026-goda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/hronika-parushennyau-pravou-chalaveka-u-sfery-kultury-15-31-lipenya-2026-goda.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronicle of human rights violations in the sphere of culture (15-31 July 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 31 July 2026, at least 122 cultural figures, including at least 22 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books remained at 366.<\/b><\/p>\n

History teacher <\/span>Kaciaryna \u017dohal<\/b> was convicted in a politically motivated criminal case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Promoters of Belarusian culture and local history <\/span>Ale\u015b Masiuk<\/b>, <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Sievascian<\/b>, and <\/span>Viktar Mar\u010dyk<\/b> were arrested in S\u0142onim.<\/span><\/p>\n

A court handed down an in-absentia sentence in the politically motivated case against <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Mickievi\u010d<\/b>, founder of the <\/span>Okno na Wsch\u00f3d (Window to the East) Foundation<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A court began the trial in absentia of the politically motivated criminal case against poet, singer and musician <\/span>Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Film director <\/span>Andrej Kudzinienka<\/b> was forced to leave Belarus because of political persecution.<\/span><\/p>\n

The health of political prisoner, journalist and non-fiction writer <\/span>Ihar Ilja\u0161<\/b> has deteriorated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The YouTube channel of the Belarusian rock band <\/span>Dzieciuki<\/b> was designated as “extremist”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Instagram page <\/span>“Po\u0161uki staroha Homiela”<\/b> (Searching for Old Homiel) was designated as “extremist material”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Instagram account <\/span>“ales_minau”<\/b>, belonging to writer <\/span>Ale\u015b Mina<\/b>\u016d<\/b>, was designated as “extremist material”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Odnoklassniki page <\/span>“Pavie\u0142 Sieviaryniec”<\/b> was designated as “extremist material”.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 19 July, history teacher <\/span>Kaciaryna \u017dohal<\/b> was convicted in a politically motivated criminal case. The Minsk City Court found her guilty under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activities) and sentenced her to restricted freedom in home confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 23 July, it became known that promoters of Belarusian culture and local history <\/span>Ale\u015b Masiuk<\/b>, <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Sievascian<\/b>, and <\/span>Viktar Mar\u010dyk<\/b> had been arrested in S\u0142onim. They have already spent several months in custody. The arrests were carried out as part of a criminal case related to the activities of the <\/span>Belarusian Council for Culture<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>3.<\/strong> On 27 July, the Hrodna Regional Court handed down an in-absentia sentence in the politically motivated case against <\/span>Pavie\u0142 Mickievi\u010d<\/b>, founder of the <\/span>Okno na Wsch\u00f3d Foundation<\/b>, who was involved in educational and cultural projects. He was convicted in absentia under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (facilitating extremist activities) and Article 369-1 (discrediting Belarus) and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony and a fine of BYN 22,500 Belarusian roubles (500 base units, approximately USD 7,720).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>4.<\/strong> On 28 July, the<\/span> Minsk City Court<\/span> opened the trial in absentia of poet, singer and musician <\/span>Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok<\/b>. He is charged under Part 1 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hatred or enmity) and Part 1 of Article 368 (insulting the President). In 2025, Micha\u0142ok was placed on Belarus’s wanted list. Having lived in Ukraine since 2015, he relocated to Estonia in 2022. He continues to tour across Europe and has publicly expressed support for Ukraine. He now performs some of the best-known songs of his bands <\/span>Lyapis Trubetskoy<\/b> and <\/span>Brutto<\/b> in Ukrainian.<\/span><\/p>\n

II. Persecution and forced exiles of cultural figures\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

On 22 July, officers of the security services and the police carried out searches of the home and office of film director and founder of the <\/span>KinaKa<\/b>\u0142<\/b>ajdar<\/b> film school, <\/span>Andrej Kudzinienka<\/b>, in Minsk. As a result of political persecution, he was forced to leave Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The health of political prisoner, journalist and non-fiction writer <\/span>Ihar Ilja\u0161<\/b> has deteriorated, according to his wife, former political prisoner Kaciaryna Andrejeva:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Immediately after being released from the punishment cell, Ihar began complaining about swelling in his legs and hands. After that, he was sent to work processing rubber, including tyres. This also had a very negative impact on his health \u2013 he began experiencing problems with coordination, especially in his right hand. When he was released from the punishment cell the last time, it was obvious that he was limping. And on top of that, repeated periods in the punishment cell have caused a sharp deterioration in his eyesight.”<\/span><\/p>\n

IV. Cultural projects\u2019 social media pages designated as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

1.<\/strong> On 28 July 2026, Hrodna\u2019s Leninski District Court ruled to designate the YouTube channel of the Belarusian rock band <\/span>Dzieciuki<\/b> as “extremist”. In July 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs designated the band an “extremist formation”. In the same year, the band’s social media pages (Facebook, Instagram and VKontakte), as well as its logo and the word <\/span>Dzieciuki<\/span><\/i>, were designated as “extremist materials”.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> On 28 July 2026, the Central District Court of Homiel designated the Instagram page <\/span>“Po\u0161uki staroha Homiela”<\/b> (Searching for Old Homiel) as “extremist material”.<\/span><\/p>\n

V. Cultural figures\u2019 social media pages designated as \u201cextremist\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

<\/b>1.<\/strong> On 22 July 2026, the Baranavi\u010dy District and City Court designated the Instagram account <\/span>“ales_minau”<\/b>, belonging to writer <\/span>Ale\u015b Mina<\/b>\u016d<\/b>, as “extremist material”.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2.<\/strong> The Odnoklassniki page <\/span>“Pavie\u0142 Sieviaryniec”<\/b> was designated as “extremist material”.<\/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 July 2026, at least 122 cultural figures, including at least 22 writers, were either imprisoned or under home confinement. The number of banned books remained at 366. History teacher Kaciaryna \u017dohal was convicted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":23574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4255],"tags":[4291,4285],"class_list":["post-23539","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\/23539","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=23539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23576,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23539\/revisions\/23576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}