Inside the Lukashenko Prison System

Last year, Belarusian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski was released after spending four and a half years in one of Lukashenko’s penal colonies, known for its extreme conditions. For decades, Bialiatski has campaigned for democracy and human rights in Belarus through his organization, Viasna. In the aftermath of the mass protests against president Lukashenko in 2020 and 2021, Bialiatski was arrested and imprisoned. Now, he comes to De Balie.

In his Freedom Lecture, Bialiatski will speak about the ongoing struggle for human rights and democratic freedoms in Belarus, drawing on his personal experience as an activist and political prisoner put to forced labour. What is the current situation in Belarus, and what future awaits the country? The lecture will be followed by a talk by philosopher and feminist thinker Olga Shparaga, who will reflect on the role of feminist solidarity, care, and artistic resistance in the Belarusian democracy movement.

The evening will also feature an audiovisual performance combining live music and literary testimony built around the essays by Maxim Znak, a Belarusian lawyer and writer. Arrested in 2020 for his role in Belarus’s democratic movement, Znak spent more than five years in prison. While detained, he secretly wrote The Zekamerone, a memoir smuggled out of prison. The performance offers a preview of a large-scale participatory art performance A Percussion Piece that will take place at the East NDSM Wharf on 19 September, organized in solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners.