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Persecution, Convictions, Censorship, Cultural Policy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus<\/b>, founder of the <\/span>Art Siadziba<\/span><\/i> cultural platform and a souvenir shop\u00a0 <\/span>Symbal.by<\/span><\/i>, was arrested for another 13 days under the article for \u201cpetty hooliganism\u201d. A man who was Pavie\u0142\u2019s cellmate in Akre\u015bcina detention center told the media that the officials couldn’t detain Pavie\u0142 for mailing a book considered extremist and detained him for picketing with a tattoo instead \u2014 Bie\u0142avus has a small tattoo with a white-red-white flag on his wrist.<\/span><\/p>\n On December 5, <\/span>Juryj Zialevi\u010d<\/b>, who had been the head of the <\/span>Pru\u017eanski pa\u0142acyk<\/span><\/i> Museum-Estate for 20 years, was detained in Pru\u017eany. In December 2020, he had to quit \u201cby agreement of the parties.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Natalla Kapy\u0107ko<\/b>, a musician and teacher, the wife of <\/span>Viktar Kapy\u0107ko<\/b>, a famous composer, was detained for lighting a candle in their window on November 12, 2021 in memory of Raman Bandarenka on his death anniversary. The video footage from the street served as evidence of her \u201cbeing guilty\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n 25 employees of the <\/span>Belarusian Academy of Arts<\/b> were <\/span>fired<\/span><\/a> in two days. A year ago, they refused to sign one of the pro-government letters and refused to join the state trade union. Among those fired was Vice-Rector <\/span>Alena Bochan<\/b>, who defended students expelled for protests.<\/span><\/p>\n On December 9, the trial against <\/span>Nadzieja <\/b>and<\/span> U\u0142adzimir Ka\u0142a\u010d<\/b>, political prisoners, musicians of the <\/span>Irdorath <\/span><\/i>band, began. They are accused of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, training persons to participate in such actions, as well as financing or other material support of such activities. The prosecutor asked for two years in prison for them.<\/span><\/p>\n The house of <\/span>Siarhiej Pa\u0142a\u017eenka<\/b>, art director of the Minsk club <\/span>Brugge<\/span><\/i>, was searched. Siarhiej connects it with raids on former independent observers of the 2020 elections. He is a witness in the case of mass riots and signed a paper on the illegality of participation in unlawful mass events.<\/span><\/p>\n Rabiert Valdes Kasanueva<\/b>, a designer and member of the Belarusian Union of Designers, who was detained on November 11, 2020 for protests, was deported from Belarus to Cuba on December 10 after a year at Akre\u015bcina detention center. The man has lived and worked in Belarus for 30 years. He has a family and three children.<\/span><\/p>\n Life of the Imprisoned People<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Nadzieja Ka\u0142a\u010d<\/b>, a political prisoner and vocalist of the <\/span>Irdorath <\/span><\/i>band, sent a letter from behind bars in which she listed five of her favorite Belarusian songs. It became known that during her stay in prison – four and a half months – Nadzieja’s health has deteriorated and she needs surgery now.<\/span><\/p>\n Ihar Bancer<\/b>, a political prisoner, musician, was given another 10 days in punitive confinement. It is yet unknown why. Overall, Ihar has spent 70 days in punitive confinement since August.<\/span><\/p>\n Dissent and Cultural Activism<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Belarusian Free Theatre<\/b> is working on a play based on the book <\/span>Sabaki E\u016dropy<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Dogs of Europe<\/span><\/i> in Belarusian) by <\/span>Alhierd Bacharevi\u010d<\/b>, writer, member of PEN Belarus, in the London Barbican Center.<\/span><\/p>\n The<\/span> Philosopher_in_Prison<\/span><\/i> campaign presented a book <\/span>Answering for myself. Notes of a philosopher with a bad character<\/span><\/i><\/a> by <\/span>U\u0142adzimir Mackievi\u010d<\/b>, political prisoner, philosopher, methodologist and writer. The book is based on U\u0142adzimir Mackievi\u010d’s Facebook posts published as a series of reflections from February to May 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n On December 11, a meeting with <\/span>Ja\u016dhien Papakul<\/b>, writer and translator, took place in Minsk. The author talked about \u201cPoetic\u201d and \u201cProse Ed\u201d, the peculiarities of translation from the Old Icelandic and other interesting subjects.<\/span><\/p>\n Nata\u0142ka Charytaniuk<\/b> published an online Christmas book <\/span>The Tale of How St. Nicholas was Banned<\/span><\/i>. It ends with a metaphor, \u201cwith which the totalitarian regimes ended throughout history: evil destroys itself\u201d. Illustrator <\/span>Lizavieta Han\u010darova<\/b>\u00a0and editor <\/span>Maks \u0160\u010dur<\/b> also took part in creating the book. It will be available in Georgian, English and Russian next week.<\/span><\/p>\n Marharyta La\u016d\u010duk<\/b> and <\/span>Siar\u017euk Do\u016dhu\u0161a\u016d<\/b> presented a new video – their version of the Belarusian folk song <\/span>Gray Horse<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/1-pavel-belavus-340x240.jpg\")
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On December 8, the activity of the creative space<\/b> 13:87<\/i><\/b> in Babrujsk was suspended by the order of the Babrujsk city \u200b\u200bdistrict committee\u2019s Emergency Department; managers also received another fine of 20 basic units (\u20ac 203). For seven years, educational events were held in the space: seminars, workshops, lectures, poetry readings, tabletop game evenings, movie and book clubs.
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An electronic catalog of traditional Belarusian clothing of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was published in 8 languages: English, German, Portuguese, Spanish (<\/span>Kindle<\/span><\/a>), Belarusian, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian (<\/span>Lulu<\/span><\/a>). The garments have been collected, restored and reconstructed in accordance with old photos for many years by <\/span>Vola Dziemka, singer, filmmaker and producer who lives in Seattle, USA, and her associates from the folk band <\/span>VOLYA<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>
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