“The main cultural news right now is: emmigration, the liquidation of cultural organizations, trials, and arrests. “
Maksim Žbankoŭ, journalist and culture expert
PEN Belarus is systematically collecting information on the implementation of cultural rights and the observance of the rights of cultural workers. Since August 2020, we have been both witnesses and recorders of the extreme pressure exerted upon Belarusian civil society, and cultural workers in particular. This is a tragic time for freedom of expression, creative freedom, and freedom of opinion. The protracted socio-political crisis is characterised by the trampling of fundamental rights and freedoms, the persecution of dissent, censorship, a climate of fear, and the displacement of political activists from the country.
This document contains statistics regarding these violations. It is based on open source information and communication with cultural workers between January and September 2021.
GENERAL RESULTS
Between January and September 2021:
This quantity is greater than the instances recorded throughout all of 2020 (593). It is possible to state without doubt that the pressure and repression – escalated by the authorities in August 2020 – show no sign of relenting, and that they are taking new forms as well as encompassing a wider range of subjects in the Belarusian cultural sphere.
The rate of violations, from January 2020 to the present day:
POLITICAL PRISONERS
As of September 30, 2021, 715 individuals in Belarus have been recognized as political prisoners. 60 of these are cultural workers:
- Paviel Sieviaryniec, writer and social-political activist: Sentenced to 7 years in a strict regime penal colony on May 25, 2021.
- Maksim Znak, lawyer, poet, and lyricist: Sentenced to 10 years in a strict regime penal colony on September 6, 2021.
- Philanthropist Viktar Babaryka: Sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime penal colony on July 6, 2021.
- Ihnat Sidorčyk, poet and film director Ignat Sidorchik: Sentenced to 3 years of detention in an open correctional facility (This punishment is commonly known as “khimiya”) on February 16, 2021.
- Miokola Dziadok, anarchist activist, prison literature author: On remand since November 11, 2020.
- Julija Čarniaŭskaja, writer and cultural expert: Under house arrest (forbidden from going outside or communicating with others except her lawyer) since May 20, 2021.
- Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Bachvalava), author and journalist: Sentenced to 2 years in a standard regime penal colony on February 18, 2021.
- Andrej Pačobut, poet and member of the “Polish Union in Belarus”: On remand since March 27, 2021.
- Andrej Alaksandraŭ, poet, journalist, and media manager: On remand since January 12, 2021.
- Maryja Kaleśnikava, musician and cultural project manager: Sentenced to 11 years in penal colony on September 6, 2021.
- Ihar Bancar, musician: Sentenced to 1.5 years in an open correctional facility on March 19, 2021.
- Aleksey Sanchuk, drummer: Sentenced to 6 years in a strict regime penal colony on May 13, 2021.
- Anatol Khinevich, poet and singer: Sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony on December 24, 2021.
- Alaksandr Vasilevič, cultural project manager and businessman: On remand since August 28, 2020.
- Eduard Babaryka, cultural manager: On remand since June 18, 2020.
- Ivan Kaniavieha, concert agency director: Sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony on February 4, 2021.
- Mia Mitkevich, cultural manager: Sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony on May 20, 2021.
- Liavon Khalatran, cultural manager: Sentenced to 2 years in an open correctional facility on February 19, 2021.
- Andżelika Borys, chair of “Polish Union of Belarus”: On remand since March 30, 2021.
- Ales Pushkin, artist: On remand since March 30, 2021.
- Siarhei Volkau, actor: Sentenced to 4 years in a strict regime penal colony on July 6, 2021.
- Danila Hancharou,, lighting designer: Sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony on July 9, 2021.
- Aliaksandr Nurdzinau, artist: Sentenced to 4 years in a strict regime penal colony on February 5, 2021.
- Uladzislau Makavetski, artist: Sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony on December 16, 2020.
- Artsiom Takarchuk, architect: Sentenced to 3.5 years in a penal colony on November 20, 2020.
- Rastsislau Stefanovich, designer and architect: Sentenced to 8 years in a strict regime penal colony on July 19, 2021.
- Maksim Taccianok, designer: Sentenced to 3 years in an open correctional facility on February 26, 2021.
- Pavel Spiryn, documentary film author and blogger: Sentenced to 4.5 years in a penal colony on February 5, 2021.
- Dzmitry Kubarau, UX-UI-Designer: Sentenced to 7 years in a strict regime penal colony on March 24, 2021.
- Ksenia Syramalot, poet and publicist, philosophy and social sciences student at Belarus State University: Sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony on July 16, 2021.
- Yana Arabeika and Kasia Budzko, aesthetic education faculty students at Belarus State Pedagogical University: Sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony on July 16, 2021.
- Maryia Kalenik, exhibition design student at the Academy of Arts: Sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony on July 16, 2021.
- Viktoryia Hrankouskaya, former architecture student from Belarus National Technical University: Sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony on July 16, 2021.
- Ihar Yarmolau and Mikalai Saseu, dancers: Sentenced to 5 years in a strict regime penal colony on June 10, 2021.
- Anastasiya Mirontsava, academy of Arts student: Sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony on April 11, 2021 in her final year.
- Sviatlana Kuprejeva (As of October 12, 2021, Sviatlana Kuprejeva was released on October 11, 2021. She spent 16 months in detention), poet, coordinator of Viktor Babariko’s team: On remand since June 11, 2020.
- Aleś Bialacki, literary critic, researcher of Belarusian literary history, essayist, and rights defender: On remand since July 14, 2021.
- Andrej Skurko, writer, musician, and author of the magazine “Nasha Istoria (Our History)”: On remand since July 8, 2021.
- Paviel Larčyk, musician: Sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony on July 9, 2021.
- Ivan Viarbicki, artist, animator: Sentenced to 8 years and 1 month in a strict regime penal colony on March 15, 2021.
- Uladzimir Mackievič, philosopher and methodologist: On remand since August 4, 2021.
- Uladzimir Kalač, Nadzieja Kalač, Piotr Marčanka, Julija Marčanka (Junickaja), Anton Šnip i Dźmitry Šymanski, musicians: On remand since August 2, 2021.
- Andrej Pietrovskij, history and social studies teacher: Sentenced to 1.5 years in a penal colony on August 25, 2021.
- Ksienija Luckina, historian, documentary film director, and journalist: On remand since August 25, 2021.
- Aleś Minaŭ, writer, Belarusian language, and literature teacher: On remand since August 25, 2021.
- Mikola Papieka, poet: Sentenced to 2 years in an open correctional facility on June 08, 2021.
- Alaksandr Bahdanaŭ, cultural manager, musician: On remand since September 2, 2021.
- Maksim Kruk, artist, scenographer: On remand since September 2, 2021.
- Artur Amiraŭ, Musician, DJ: Sentenced to 3.5 years in a strict regime penal colony on August 20, 2021.
- Dźmitry Padrez, street artist: On remand since July 15, 2021.
- Jaŭhien Piatroŭ, musician: Sentenced to 1 year in a penal colony on September 11, 2021.
- Valeryja Kaściuhova, author and editor, political scientist and analyst: On remand since June 30, 2021.
- Jaŭhien Kračkoŭski, author of the project “Adveku (From time immemorial)”: On remand since September 8, 2021.
The authorities also brought criminal proceedings against:
Volha Kałackaja, translator: Sentenced to 2 years’ detention without being sent to an open correctional facility on March 24, 2021.
Uladzimir Hundar, local history expertand activist: Sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony on May 20, 2021.
Hanna Važnik, poet and musician: Sentenced to 1 year’s detention without being sent to an open correctional facility on June 28, 2021.
Julija Laptovič, librarian: Sentenced to 3 years of detention without being sent to an open correctional facility on August 4, 2021.
Taćciana Minina, designer: Sentenced to 4 years of detention without being sent to an open correctional facility on August 12, 2021.
Ihar Alinievič, publicist, anarchist activist: On remand since October 29, 2020.
From January to September 2021, the authorities launched criminal proceedings against 42 cultural workers and delivered the following sentences:
From the middle of June, the following cultural workers sentenced to open correctional facilities began their sentences: Musician Ihar Bancar, poet and film director Ihnat Sidorčyk, designer Maksim Taccianok, culture manager Liavon Khalatran, poet Mikola Papieka, musician Maksim Šaŭlinski (released in an amnesty in September), cultural manager Cimur Hazizaŭ, sentenced on September 20 to 2 years of detention in an open correctional facility but now free pending appeal.
DETENTION CONDITIONS
We continue to receive reports of draconian detention conditions that include:
- Separate wake-ups and night inspections
- The absence of mattresses
- Overcrowded cells
- A light that can burn for days
- A radio that never stops playing
- Insults from the guards
- A ban on the reception of parcels
- The absence – or delayed provision – of medical assistance
- A ban on hospital admissions
- A ban on taking necessary medication
- A ban on meetings with relatives
- A ban on doing sport (in the cell or in the breaks during work in the penal colony)
- Conditions enabling infection by coronovarius
- Placement in an isolation cell
- The registration of inmates as “prone to extremism and other destructive behaviour” that means even harsher treatment: more regular cell inspections, handcuffs during all movement, and other conditions which are regularly characterised by those who were held there as a “torture chamber” and “bestial”.
Overall, we have recorded 80 reports of the harsh and humiliating detention conditions of cultural workers.
For the full report that has a lot more, click the link below:
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People say that (writers) are pretty powerless: we don’t have an army, we don’t have a bureaucracy. But if that were true, then why would writers be arrested?... Because the spoken word is powerful.
