Police open criminal case against renowned artist

September 19, BPN. Belarusian police have detained artist Hienadź Drazdoŭ on suspicion of criminal activity, his friend, artist Aleś Cyrkunoŭ, has told BPN.

“A man has been detained for active participation in mass riots” in 2020, a police-linked Telegram channel wrote of Drazdoŭ, without mentioning his name.

He was also photographed with members of Ukraine’s “punitive battalions,” it wrote.

Cyrkunoŭ said the member of Belarusian art collective Pahonia had disappeared in August 2022.

Police said at the time that he was in jail for 15 days, and there hasn’t been any news from him until now, he added.