28 anarchists and antifascists remain in prison, Oleg Avdeenko is under home arrest.
Czech writer, musician and dissident Jachim Topol shared his impression of Igor Olinevich’s book “Going to Magadan” in an interview with Euroradio:
“And this book about the Belarusian prison of today is absolutely gorgeous, very strong, beautifully written. And, of course, horrifying. People who are readers know about Belarus first of all thanks to the artists and authors.”
In January it became known that the anarchist Dmitry Rezanovich was charged with a new criminal case under Article 411 of the Criminal Code, allegedly for “malicious disobedience to the requirements of the prison administration”. The date of the upcoming trial is still unknown.
Dmitry has repeatedly reported about the constant pressure put on him by the administration of prison colony No. 22 and was ready for such a turn of events. He was punished with solitary confinement several times, prevented from doing sports, deprived of money transfers and visits. At the end of September, Rezanovich was transferred to a cell-type facility for six months. In addition, the anarcho-partisan is included in three professional registers: “prone to extremist and other destructive activities”, “prone to hostage-taking, attacking the administration and displaying aggression” and “prone to escape”.
Despite the new criminal case and the undoubted addition of an extra year to his 19-year sentence, Dmitry does not despair, he stays sharp and unbroken.
On 20 January activist Anastasia Kukhta had her 32nd birthday, in prison. Anastasia was sentenced to 5 years in prison for participation in protest actions, calling for sanctions or “actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus”, as well as participation in an extremist formation.
In one of her letters Anastasia wrote:
“Our whole life is connected with risk. It is full of obstacles, difficulties and defeats. And only you choose what to do and how to react. Will you let the circumstances break you and make you unhappy or will you not give up and look for a million opportunities to get out of the predicament with honor and dignity? The decision is yours alone to make. It is your action or inaction that will determine our common future. After all, we are all links in one big network.”
For Anastasia’s birthday we have published an artbook from a series of her drawings, stylised as “Love is…” gum wrappers. You can order an artbook and support Anastasia Kukhta in this way.
It became known that at the end of December anarchist Aliaksandr Frantskevich*, who was sentenced to almost 17 years of imprisonment, was transferred to a prison in Volkovysk after the disbanding of the prison colony he had been in before that.
On 23 January, mass searches and detentions of relatives of political prisoners and former political prisoners took place in many regions of Belarus. It is known that the detainees’ phones were taken away for checking, while the search orders included articles on “financing” and “participation in extremist formations”. Several people were transferred to pre-trial detention centres as part of the criminal case, and some were sentenced administratively.
We believe that this is another round in the criminalisation of support and solidarity with political prisoners and an attempt to further isolate and put pressure on those who are behind bars for their struggle against Lukashenka’s regime.
Express your solidarity – buy a T-shirt with the work of a Belarusian artist!
As part of her project #FramedInBelarus, artist Rufina Bazlova creates embroidery schemes dedicated to activists persecuted by the Belarusian state.
One of such embroideries is dedicated to the “Promnya” case, in the framework of which four anarchists were convicted. According to the investigation, they took an active part in the protests and participated in the media collective “Pramen”, recognised by the regime as an extremist formation.
Order a T-shirt with the print and support the guys!
Donate to support Belarusian anarchists in prison
* ABC-Belarus withdrew its support for Aliaksandr Frantskevich in 2015 for using violence against comrades, threatening our collective, and his position on the collective property of the movement. After Aliaksandr’s arrest in 2020, ABC declared critical support for him, read more in the statement.