March 9, Pozirk. The Committee for State Security (KGB) branded the coalition of the Kamunikat.org Foundation, the Lohvinau Publishing House and Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing as an “extremist” group on March 3 amid a major crackdown on Belarusian-language publishers.
The KGB listed Jarasłaŭ Ivaniuk, Dźmitryj Kołas, Ihar Łohvinaŭ, Vacłaŭ Bahdanovič, Andrej Januškievič and Alaksandar Jaŭdach as members, designating their websites and social media pages as extremist content, according to the interior ministry’s updated online register.
The move comes weeks after the KGB blacklisted the Krakow-based Gutenberg Publisher.
The designation followed a raid by Belarusian police on apartments and offices linked to book publishers and distributors last month in Minsk that ended in about 10 arrests. In the same week, Technalohija, a Minsk-based publisher of books in Belarusian, announced its decision to terminate operations without specifying any reasons.
In 2023, Belarusian government enacted legislation that empowered the information ministry to suspend and close down publishers without taking disputes to court, a mandatory requirement before.
Many publishers of books in Belarusian have lost their licenses, including Medisont, Halijafy, Limaryjus, Knihazbor and Januškievič. Some of the publishers continue operations in exile.
