{"id":188027,"date":"2026-05-18T20:03:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:03:56","slug":"belarus-opens-criminal-case-against-rock-legend-siarhiej-michalok","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus opens criminal case against rock legend Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>May 18, <em>Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Authorities in Belarus have opened a criminal case against exiled Belarusian rock star Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok (Siarhei Mikhalok), an outspoken supporter of Ukraine and critic of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Telegram channel of the Investigative Committee of Belarus, Micha\u0142ok is accused of \u201cinsulting the president\u201d and inciting hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok is known as the front man for the popular punk rock bands Lyapis Trubetskoy and Brutto. For many years, he has been on the authorities\u2019 blacklist and lived outside of Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/nau-1.jpg 1127w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Politics<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Politics<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Opposition sounds alarm about \u201csystemic erosion of Belarusian national identity\u201d<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">May 8, Pozirk. The National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) has published a report on the \u201csystemic destruction of national identity\u201d by&nbsp; Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime. The Warsaw-based opposition organization unveiled the report on the sidelines of the spring session of the Parliamentary &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/186822\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 18, Pozirk. Authorities in Belarus have opened a criminal case against exiled Belarusian rock star Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok (Siarhei Mikhalok), an outspoken supporter of Ukraine and critic of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka. According to the Telegram channel of the Investigative Committee of Belarus, Micha\u0142ok is accused of \u201cinsulting the president\u201d and inciting hatred. Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok is known [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":187987,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-188027","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belarus opens criminal case against rock legend Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May 18, Pozirk. Authorities in Belarus have opened a criminal case against exiled Belarusian rock star Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok (Siarhei Mikhalok), an outspoken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belarus opens criminal case against rock legend Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 18, Pozirk. Authorities in Belarus have opened a criminal case against exiled Belarusian rock star Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok (Siarhei Mikhalok), an outspoken\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T17:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mikhalok_wiki.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\"},\"headline\":\"Belarus opens criminal case against rock legend Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T17:03:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-18T17:03:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\"},\"wordCount\":97,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mikhalok_wiki.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/\",\"name\":\"Belarus opens criminal case against rock legend Siarhiej Micha\u0142ok | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/188027\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mikhalok_wiki.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T17:03:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-18T17:03:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"May 18, Pozirk. 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