{"id":5962,"date":"2021-03-09T09:28:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T09:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=5962"},"modified":"2021-08-04T12:03:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T12:03:10","slug":"vyjdzi-spatkaczi-vyasnu-razam-z-belaruskaj-kulturaj-va-usyoj-yae-zhyczczesczvyardzhalnaj-moczy-vypusk-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2021\/03\/09\/vyjdzi-spatkaczi-vyasnu-razam-z-belaruskaj-kulturaj-va-usyoj-yae-zhyczczesczvyardzhalnaj-moczy-vypusk-22.html","title":{"rendered":"Come out to see the spring! \u2013 together with the Belarusian culture in all its life-affirming power. Issue 22"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stand with Belarusian Arts and Culture community. Donate to\u00a0Save Our Songs campaign<\/a>.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Arrests, Convictions, Prosecution<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Jura\u015b Dzie\u0161uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jura\u015b Dzie\u0161uk<\/b>, a journalist from Biaroza\u016dka, was fined<\/a> 1,450 BYN [461 EUR] for allegedly shouting \u201cLong live Belarus\u201d at the trial of Vitold A\u0161kurk. <\/span>\u00a0A video from the courtroom shows that Jura\u015b was there as a journalist and took pictures of Vitold after the verdict.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vadzim D\u017amitranok<\/b>, an architect who was detained on November 15 during a crackdown on the Square of Change and charged under four articles of the Criminal Code, faces up<\/a> to eight years in prison.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0After being detained in November, he was severely beaten, so he was taken to hospital with a mild traumatic brain injury, scratches, bruises and other injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

On March 1, the Viciebsk court sentenced<\/a> a 23-year-old resident of Viciebsk to one year in an open correctional facility for “taking a flagpole with the state flag of Belarus from the wall bracket of a store building and throwing it to the ground.” <\/span><\/p>\n

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Volha Takar\u010duk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Volha Takar\u010duk<\/b>, a YouTube blogger for 30,000 followers, was detained again on March 2 in Minsk, and released after signing a promise. On that day, several dozen administrators of regional and local activists\u2019 Telegram chats were detained around Belarus. Volha was previously detained on January 25 for a single-person picket during which she released white-red-white balloons from the window.<\/span><\/p>\n

Micha\u015b Ziziuk<\/b>, a poet, was detained on March 3 in Navahrudak. He was one of those who would join the guided tours which took place under police surveillance and whose participants eventually started to be detained. He was fined 30 basic units [276 EUR] for \u201cdistributing unregistered leaflets\u201d, and released on March 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ihar Bancar<\/b>, leader of the band Mister X, has been trialed in Hrodna for a performance he did in October 2020. Ihar pleaded not guilty, refused a lawyer\u2019s services and went on a dry hunger strike. The court rejected Ihar’s request for the trial to be conducted in Belarusian.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ihar Bancar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The criminal case was opened<\/a> against the Human Rights Center <\/span>“Viasna”<\/b> under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization and active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 12, a journalist Raman Vasiukovi\u010d<\/b> will be tried for importing the book “Belarusian Donbas” to Belarus. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anastasija Pieravo\u0161\u010dykava<\/b>, a resident of Homel who designed the flag of the Navabelicki district of Homel, has been in prison since the end of January 2021.\u00a0<\/span>She was tried<\/a> 6 times in a row, each time receiving 15 days of administrative arrest. Anastasija’s apartment and her grandfather’s house were searched, all the equipment was confiscated.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pressure, Dismissal, Ban<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Aksana Plikus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aksana Plikus<\/b>, actress of the Hrodna Drama Theater, who showed<\/a> open support of her fired colleagues, <\/span>and also takes part in creative events taking place on alternative venues, has her contract not extended<\/a> \u2013 March 31 is her last working day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ihar Ka\u017amier\u010dak<\/b>, the owner of a store selling Belarusian National Souvenirs as well as editor of the orsha.eu media resource, on March 2 had his bank accounts blocked.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 2, the recording of the concert of the band “Daj Dorogu<\/strong>!” was disrupted. Police came to one of the Minsk clubs an hour before the start of the recording, and all those present were ordered to disperse under the threat of being detained by riot police. In Brest, the band also can\u2019t perform: the authorities refused to issue a tour certificate to them. See the link<\/a> to support the musicians with a donation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Taciana Niadbaj<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 3, <\/span>Taciana Niadbaj<\/b>, Vice President of the Belarusian PEN Center, was summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee. Taciana is free, she signed a non-disclosure agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The store selling products with national symbols <\/span>Symbal.by<\/b>, had to close<\/a> on March 3, under a lot of pressure from the city authorities, after seven years of operation.\u00a0<\/span>The persecution of the store began in June 2020, when they were demanded to be closed due to alleged violations of sanitary norms, and people standing in line to buy goods and support the store were detained. 419 T-shirts with the writing “Psychosis 3%” (referring to the quote of \u0141uka\u0161enka that Covid-19 was only psychosis rather than real and that those who supported alternative candidates only made up for 3%) were confiscated. Despite numerous inspections, including those of the companies and entrepreneurs-partners of Symbal.by, and the fact that the customs neither shipped from Belarus nor returned to the seller more than 200 parcels with orders from foreign buyers, the online store continued to operate until January 30, 2021, when four store employees were detained right at their working place and sentenced to 15 and 20 days of administrative arrest.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Viktar \u0160adurski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Viktar \u0160adurski<\/b>, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations of the Belarusian State University, one of the most liberal faculties in the country, quit. Viktar himself has always stood up for students and defended their interests, including the students getting in trouble for the protest.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nasha Niva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three magazines published by Nasha Niva<\/b><\/a>, one of the leading independent Belarusian media outlets, have been banned from being sold in the state-owned newsagent\u2019s. The editors asked readers to buy the magazine in their office directly, and over two days, thanks to the solidarity of the people, more copies were sold than previously sold in a month.
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The <\/span>Moving Art Festival<\/b>, an independent arts festival that was to open on March 6 at the MAF art space in Minsk, was postponed<\/a><\/span>\u00a0because the owner restricted access to the premises. It\u2019s not the first time this space faces such issues, and it\u2019s one of the many independent venues that have been targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Symbols<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Hienad\u017a Kar\u0161uno\u016d<\/b>, former head of the Institute of Sociology of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences and now a researcher at the Department of Social Sciences at the European Humanities University, and <\/span>Alaksiej \u0141asto\u016dski<\/b>, an associate professor at Polack State University, expressed<\/a> their expert opinion on the “war of flags” for Deutsche Welle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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photo by Deutsche Welle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the many cases of repression for white-red-white symbols over the week, this one stands out. <\/span>Illa Kva\u010denka<\/b>, a resident of the Pirs district of Minsk, hang a white-red-white flag on his balcony. On March 3, unknown individuals appeared<\/a> near his home, and when he refused to open the door and remove the flag from the window, there came a truck which evacuated his car. On the morning of March 4, Illa was summoned to the police department, and on March 5 he was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest.<\/span><\/p>\n

The head of\u00a0 Barysa\u016d forestry nursery warned the workers that no <\/span>white tulips <\/b>should be sold by them, despite the fact that there\u2019ve grown a lot of white tulips and the financial loss would be considerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cultural Resistance<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Former director of the Mahilo\u016d Museum of History <\/span>Alaksiej Baciuko\u016d<\/b>, whose contract was not extended in January 2021 for his support of the protests, launched<\/a> a historical program on Youtube, and in the first issue he tells about the first settlers of Mahilo\u016d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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karikatu.rama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The work<\/a> of the cartoonist <\/span>karikatu.rama<\/b>, dedicated to the case of Arciom Sarokin and Kaciaryna Barysievi\u010d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Abstinence from alcohol as a sign of solidarity is a step that will allow us to maintain sobriety in a difficult period and remember how things really were,” \u2013 the author comments on their work.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A story<\/a> about the conditions of detention in the Hrodna prison, illustrated by the prisoner-author’s drawings.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the new issue<\/a> of the project “Words are more powerful”<\/span>\u00a0Raman Abram\u010duk<\/b>, musician and translator, reads<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>an excerpt from the story \u201cAll-Belarusian Congress of 1917\u201d by Maksim Harecki.<\/span><\/p>\n