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Persecution, Convictions, Censorship, Cultural Policy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The Supreme Court of Belarus will consider liquidation of the <\/span>Francysk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society<\/b> on November 8.<\/span><\/p>\n Maksim Va\u0142odzin<\/b>, a composer and a citizen of Russia, who lived in Belarus for 22 years, has been deported. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOn October 4, I received two letters. One contained an invitation to the court hearing where they were to consider my case for deportation, and the other was the decision itself. I didn’t even have a chance to defend myself,” <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Maksim comments.<\/span><\/p>\n The pressure on the lawyers of political prisoners continues. <\/span>Alaksandr Biry\u0142a\u016d<\/b>, the lawyer of <\/span>Andrej Pa\u010dobut<\/b> (essayist, publicist, poet, songwriter and musician, detained on March 25, 2021 for “inciting hatred”) received a message from the Ministry of Justice that his qualifications were “not fully in line with the law.” <\/span>Biry\u0142a\u016d <\/b>was given six months to comply with the commission’s recommendations, after which he will be re-tested for certification.<\/span><\/p>\n Eduard Babaryka<\/b>, a political prisoner, cultural manager, and son of a philanthropist <\/span>Viktar Babaryka<\/b>, detained on June 18, 2020 for alleged tax evasion, was deprived of his lawyer. The Ministry of Justice has decided that <\/span>Iryna Varankova<\/b> “cannot perform her professional duties due to insufficient qualifications.”<\/span><\/p>\n The prosecutor called for a five-year sentence for <\/span>Miko\u0142a Dziadok<\/b>, a blogger and writer<\/span>, <\/span>detained on November 11, 2020. He was accused of organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them as well as other articles. <\/span>Miko\u0142a <\/b>did not agree with any part of the accusation.<\/span><\/p>\n Aksana Mankievi\u010d<\/b>, a tour guide from Minsk, was arrested for 15 days for “disobedience to police officers.”<\/span><\/p>\n On November 4, the Ministry of Information of Belarus <\/span>blocked the websites<\/b> of several liquidated public associations. Among them are <\/span>PEN Belarus<\/b>, the <\/span>Union of Belarusian Writers<\/b>, and the <\/span>National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites<\/b> (ICOMOS). The websites can be accessed in Belarus only using VPN.<\/span><\/p>\n D\u017amitry<\/b>, a former musician of the State Philharmonic and State Folk Dance Company “Khoroshki”, fired in August 2021 for his political stance, told the details of his persecution. In August, during the search, about $ 7,500 were confiscated from him; only about $ 6,000 were registered in the documents. Dzmitry served 41 days of administrative arrest, went through tortures, and was threatened with arrest of his wife unless he agreed to cooperate. As soon as Dzmitry was released after signing a travel restrictions agreement, he was able to flee the country.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>film “Temptation” <\/b>directed by Paul Verhoeven disappeared from the event guides of Minsk cinemas. The Republican Expert Commission for the Prevention of Propaganda of Pornography, Violence and Cruelty (REC) “does not recommend the picture to be shown in the country.” REC says it has received “numerous appeals from citizens” not to show the film in Belarus \u2014 there are only 30 names in that list.<\/span><\/p>\n \u0141arysa Simakovi\u010d<\/b>, a composer, member of the Belarusian Union of Composers, was fired from the National Philharmonic after her last premiere. She believes that one of the main reasons for\u00a0 her dismissal was her using the Belarusian language at work, because “the Belarusian language today marks a person’s stance”. Later PEN Belarus <\/b>learned that the management of the Philharmonic had a list of 70 people to be fired for their political stance. PEN Belarus <\/b>is verifying this information. <\/span><\/p>\n Ale\u015b Pu\u0161kin<\/b>, artist accused of “deliberate actions aimed at rehabilitating and justifying Nazism” for painting a portrait of a Belarusian anti-Soviet partisan of the postwar period, had his detention extended until January 30, 2022. Recently in a letter from prison he wrote,<\/span><\/p>\n “Just for the love of art, the truth, I chose to go to prison instead of staying in Kyiv: for otherwise, who would believe me!”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Life of the Imprisoned People<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Ihar Bancer<\/b>, political prisoner musician, was returned to the Viciebsk detention center from the open air prison. The administration of the open air prison decided that he had committed several violations, after which, despite Ihar having a fever, the musician was placed in a punitive confinement.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Julija Cimafiejeva<\/b>, a poet, translator and writer, member of <\/span>PEN Belarus<\/b>, received letters from her brother, <\/span>Piatro Mar\u010danka<\/b>, musician from the band Irdorath, and <\/span>Julija<\/b> Mar\u010danka<\/b> (Junickaja), his wife, who was detained together with him on August 2, 2021. <\/span>Julia<\/b> writes that she has got used to prison life.<\/span><\/p>\n “People ask if I sing here \u2014 no, I don’t want to sing at all.” <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n She reads a lot, hasn\u2019t complained about her health. <\/span>Piatro<\/b> writes that three weeks ago they made a cake for his inmate’s birthday,<\/span><\/p>\n “Almost like a real cake.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n He is engaged in mathematics, studies books on programming, which he can find in the library of the pre-trial prison, and develops a textbook-application for bagpipers, which he started working on earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n Dissent and Cultural Activism <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Ale\u015b Kontra<\/b>, an artist, decorated the city of Brest with a mural picturing a kestrel for the public organization “APB-BirdLife Belarus”.<\/span><\/p>\n Marharyta La\u016d\u010duk<\/b> with the “DJs of changes” <\/span>made a cover<\/span><\/a> of the legendary Viktar Tsoi\u2019s song.<\/span><\/p>\n The first book trailer of the 10th anniversary season of the Jerzy Giedroyc Literary Award <\/span>was released<\/span><\/a>. It is for the shortlisted book <\/span>Aquarium. A story of one youth<\/span><\/i> by <\/span>Siarhiej Kalenda<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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\u041cThe International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) has suspended the accreditation of the <\/span>Listapad Film Festival due to the fact that “the accreditation of the Minsk Festival casts a shadow over other festivals to which we grant such an accreditation”. The festival is no longer international, because “people from the world of cinema understand that it is impossible to hold a large-scale event in a country where tens of thousands of activists are thrown in jail, fired, killed, that the festival organizer (Ministry of Culture this year) censors everything that still has a spark life in it and the festival’s information partner (Belarusian Television) shows abuse of political prisoners on air,\u201d shared <\/span>Siarhei Budkin, the head of the <\/span>Belarusian Council for Culture.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
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