{"id":148273,"date":"2025-07-25T21:57:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/148273\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"attack-on-belarusian-language-prison-abuse-testimony-sparks-condemnation","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/148273\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack on Belarusian language: Prison abuse testimony sparks condemnation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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July 25, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> If a person in Belarus speaks Belarusian, he or she \u201cmay be beaten, discriminated against, fired from work, or not hired,\u201d according to a joint statement by Volha Zazulinskaja and Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both serve in the opposition United Transitional Cabinet (UTC): Zazulinskaja supervises social issues, while Barko\u016dski defends national identity. The statement addresses the testimony of Latvian citizen Dmitrijs Mihailovs, who was released from a Belarusian jail. Yesterday, he told<\/a> Radyjo Svaboda<\/em> about the discrimination against Belarusian-speaking prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mihailovs, inmates are persecuted for writing letters and having conversations in Belarusian. He said he was hit in the stomach with a truncheon for defending Belarusian speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UTC members called the testimony \u201cvery revealing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe perspective of an \u2018outsider\u2019 with different cultural experience, who clearly sees the absurdity of the situation, is especially valuable. He comes from a country where the language of the titular nation was under pressure but survived to become the basis of national identity,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that the \u2018Russian world\u2019 dominates Belarusian prisons, and this is no accident but rather part of the system. The penitentiary system is a peculiar mirror of the state. Now, there is no place for Belarusian-speaking Belarusians, not even in prison,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This worldview dominates the thinking of the country\u2019s rulers, Zazulinskaja and Barko\u016dski said. They called discrimination and violence, including that based on language, \u201cabsolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Opposition politician raises alarm over dominance of Russian books in Belarus<\/h3>\n
July 23, Pozirk. Pavie\u0142 Barko\u016dski, a member of the opposition United Transitional Cabinet, has expressed concern over the ongoing Russification of Belarus, highlighting the overwhelming dominance of Russian-language books in the country\u2019s market. Fewer than 900 book titles were published …<\/div>\n \n