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Results of monitoring of cultural rights violations for January-June 2021<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n During the first half of 2021, <\/span>PEN Belarus recorded<\/span><\/a> 621 cases of human and cultural rights violations.<\/span><\/p>\n Persecution, Convictions, Cultural Policy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Aleh Hruzdzi\u0142ovi\u010d<\/b> [Hruzdzilovich], journalist, author of a documentary book about the explosion in the Minsk metro in 2011, and <\/span>Ihar Ilja\u0161<\/b> [Iliash], journalist, co-author (together with Kaciaryna Andrejeva) of the book “Belarusian Donbass”, were released from Akrestsina prison on July 26. They have no right to disclose the details of their cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jula \u010carnia\u016dskaja<\/b>, a culture researcher and widow of TUT.BY founder Yury Zisser,<\/span> remains under house arrest, by the decision of the investigators. She was detained on May 18 as a suspect under Art. 243 of the Criminal Code \u2013 Tax evasion.<\/span><\/p>\n Cleansing continues: <\/span>in Hrodna<\/b> the Rock Club, founded by Ihar Bancar in 2014, and the <\/span>Studio of Useful Competences<\/span><\/a> were eliminated. <\/span><\/p>\n At the registration address of <\/span>Natalla Zdanievi\u010d<\/b>, project manager of the <\/span>Brest Fortress Development Foundation<\/span><\/a>, a KGB search was held. The Foundation unites efforts of international experts in the field of studying the heritage of Brest and the Brest Fortress, initiates archival research, promotes popularization of history in new modern formats, works with digitalization of knowledge, and also helps consolidate and develop a community of people interested in preserving the heritage.<\/span><\/p>\n Andrus and Taciana Mastyka<\/b> were released on July 29 after 10 days of arrest.<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>court hearing on liquidation of PEN Belarus<\/b> under the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice is to be held on August 3 in Minsk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Goethe Institute <\/b>officially stopped working in Belarus, as demanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.<\/span><\/p>\n In Brets, four more non-governmental organizations were<\/span> liquidated<\/b>, among them: the cultural and educational institution <\/span>Brest Oasis<\/b> and the cultural and educational institution <\/span>European Gate<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n The book Revolution<\/i><\/b> by Viktar Marcinovi\u010d<\/b> has appeared in a shop selling confiscated goods. Back in January 2021, 500 copies were confiscated from the Knihazbor publisher. Life of the Imprisoned People<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Natalla Chier\u0161e<\/b><\/a> [Natalia Hershe], an artist sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in a general-security penal colony, spent almost two months in a punitive confinement, where she didn\u2019t have even bed linen, as a punishment for refusing to sew uniform for law enforcement officers, and other violations. Now she has been transferred to a solitary confinement. Natalla refuses to write a mercy plea addressed to \u0141uka\u0161enka [Lukashenka].<\/span><\/p>\n Ihar Bancar<\/b><\/a> [Bantsar], serving a year and a half term in an open penal facility for dancing in his strings in front of a policeman, sent postcards to the arrested management of Viasna; for the first time in almost 40 days he was taken to hospital for medical examination; he is offered to write a mercy plea, but he isn\u2019t going to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n Anastasija Mironcava<\/b><\/a> writes from the penal colony \u21164 in Homel, where she has to serve 2 years of imprisonment,<\/span><\/p>\n “On the 16th we watched the premiere of a theatrical production. There is a club here \u2013 a room with a stage, huge curtains and rows of chairs. The director has been working with convicts for many years. What an awesome show he made! And the girls play! .. I even thought they were real actors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Dissent and Cultural Activism <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Despite the fact that many art workers had to leave Belarus \u2013 because of persecution, dismissal, and no opportunities to work \u2013 many stayed and continued their daily work of preserving and developing Belarusian culture, although not as noticeable and loud as what we saw it during 2020. However, this situation is not new to us, and we know well the value of this quiet daily work, without which there would have been no celebration of culture that we observed last year.<\/span><\/p>\n Mikita Moni\u010d<\/b> [Nikita Monich], an art critic who had to quit the National Art Museum in the summer of 2020 because of the poem he wrote, has launched a <\/span>YouTube project Around Culture<\/span><\/a>, in which he will talk about how to enjoy cultural artifacts and why go to museums and theaters.<\/span><\/p>\n
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