Paval Sieviaryniec (, born December 30, 1976) is a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian journalist and

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

politician and youth leader and one of the founders of the Young Front. Since June 7, 2020 he is under arrest.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

considers him a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. On May 25, 2021, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of organizing mass unrest.

Biography

Paval Sieviaryniec was born in

Orsha Orsha (; , ; ) is a city in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the fork of the Dnieper, Dnieper River and Arshytsa River, and it serves as the administrative center of Orsha District. As of 2025, it has a population of 101,662. History ...

, Vitebsk Region into a family of a journalist Kastuś Sieviaryniec and a school teacher Tacciana Sieviaryniec. In 1994, he graduated from school with a gold medal. In 2000 he graduated from the Geography faculty of the Belarusian State University. From 1994 till 1999 he worked as journalist for several state and commercial newspapers. Since 1998 Paval Sieviaryniec became known for his essays and his work as a publicist.

Political activity

In 1995, Paval Sieviaryniec joined the Belarusian Popular Front "Adradžeńnie". In February 1997, he became leader of the Minsk youth fraction of the organization. In September 1997, he was elected the Young Front co-chair at the Constituent Assembly. In 1997-2004 Sieviaryniec became known as leader of mass youth protests against policy of the president Lukashenka. Within the framework of his activities in the Young Front Paval Sieviaryniec initiated many educational projects as well as projects promoting

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

, democratic values and the idea of European integration of Belarus. In 1999-2003, Paval Sieviaryniec was he Deputy Chairman of the

BPF Party The BPF Party (; ) is a banned political party in Belarus. It was ''de facto'' established after the split of the social movement Belarusian Popular Front ( abbr. BPF; , ) in 1999. The Belarusian Popular Front was founded during the Perestroika ...

. From 1994 to 2004 he was also chairman of the Young Front. Sieviaryniec was one of the organizers of the I Belarusian Youth Congress (July 2001),

Kurapaty Kurapaty (, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, where a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD and in particular, during the Soviet repressions i ...

defense (September 2001 – June 2002), national campaign "European Belarus" (spring 2002), pre-election block "Young Belarus" (2004).

First imprisonment

In 2005, Paval Sieviaryniec was accused of organizing protest actions against Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s running for a third presidential term that took place in Minsk after 2004 controversial referendum. He was sentenced to three years of correctional labor and served his sentence involved in logging in Maloje Sitna village in the north of Belarus ( Polack District). The U.S. protested the sentence, calling it a "parody of justice", and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

stated that "even by the standards of Belarus, this is an excessive penalty". In 2006, international organization Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience. Taking into account amnesty, the term was shortened to 2 years. Sieviaryniec was released in 2007. In captivity he wrote a book "Letters from the forest" ("Лісты зь лесу"). According to Nasha Niva survey, it was considered 2007 best Belarusian book. Sieviaryniec faced a new series of charges in 2007. In July, a court found him and fellow activist Aleksey Shein guilty of "distributing illegal literature" after they were found leaflets for a political meeting. On 19 August, Sevyarynets was arrested with other youth activists during a Brest book reading at which he discussed his three books. The group were detained for "participating in an unsanctioned meeting" and were also accused of possessing counterfeit money and Ukrainian liquor.

BCD activity

Sieviaryniec later became a co-leader of the

Belarusian Christian Democracy The Belarusian Christian Democracy (; ; BCD or BKhD) is a Christian-democratic political party in Belarus, established in 2005, which claims to be the continuation of a identically named movement, which existed at the beginning of the 20th cent ...

party. In December 2010, he was arrested again on charges related to protests against Lukashenko's disputed re-election. On 16 May 2011, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

designated him a

. He was released from detention on 19 October 2013.

Second imprisonment

Paval Sieviaryniec was detained during Ploscha night protests on 20 December 2010 and convicted in organizing and preparing activities that seriously disrupt public order, or participating in them. Later he was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment, he was named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Released from detention on 19 November 2013. In captivity he wrote an essay book "Belarusian depth" ("Беларуская глыбіня").

Later activity

Currently Paval Sieviaryniec worked on re-foundation of the Belarusian Christian-democratic party, and is co-chairman of its organizational committee. On June 7, 2020 Sieviaryniec was arrested for his participation in earlier protests and sentenced to 75 days “administrative arrest”. Since then he has been unable to meet with his lawyer and has partly been in solitary confinement. In addition, his

bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

has been taken away from him. On May 25, 2021, a

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

court sentenced him to seven years in prison on charges of organizing mass unrest.

Attitude towards homosexuality

He has been very vocal against adaption of LGBT acceptance in Belarus. On June 4, 2016, Sieviaryniec gave an interview to Radio Free Europe stating that homosexuality as a social norm will destroy the Belarusian nation, the very idea of gender is just as dangerous as racist propaganda or provoking class warfare and that gay Belarusians dishonor the memory of those died fighting against the USSR and Nazi Germany. In this interview he said: Make Out, a Belarusian group that describes itself as a feminist anti-discriminatory project launched by the Belarusian PEN Center in 2014, denounced that Sieviaryniec was "one of the first people who stated that gays should be 'treated', and that "gender is an ideology". Furthermore, when Sieviaryniec found out about PEN's support of Make Out, he stopped paying dues alleging that centre was "promoting a sexual lifestyle". On 29 October 2019 he was expelled from the Belarusian PEN Center because of his homophobia, as he had supported in that year a petition from an

anti-gender movement The anti-gender movement is a global phenomenon that opposes concepts often referred to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These loosely-defined terms are commonly used by the movement to critique a range of issues related to gender equ ...

to make the government pass a law to criminalise LGBTI 'propaganda'. A summary of his statements was published on the site of the Belarusian PEN Center on October 30, 2019, After being expelled from the Belarusian PEN Center Sieviaryniec penned an open letter, claiming that a leftist group of " cultural marxists" and "LGBTI propagandists" had gathered in the leadership of the PEN centre and prosecutes

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Writing

Paval Sieviaryniec is a member of the Belarusian Writers' Union, and is working on his three-volume novel ''Belarusalim'' (vol. 2 ''Heart of the Light'' is to be published in 2020), Belarusian Association of Journalists, Belarusian Language Society, World Association of Belarusians "Baćkaŭščyna".

Sakharov Prize nomination

Upon being jointly nominated by the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

, the

Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the Political groups of the European Parliament, political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and ...

and

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

for the

Sakharov Prize The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scienti ...

for his democratic opposition in Belarus, news surfaced that Sieviaryniec had promoted

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

policies in the country. Support from the three European nominating parties was soon dropped off, given that the purpose of prize to recognise people who defend

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and fundamental freedoms.

Bibliography

* "Ды-джэі Адраджэньня" (''Deejays of national rebirth'', 1998) * "Пакаленьне Маладога Фронту" (''Generation of the Malady Front'', 2002) * "Нацыянальная ідэя" (''National idea'', 2005) * "Лісты зь лесу" (''Letters from the forest'', 2007) * "Брату" (''To the brother'', 2007). * "Беларуская глыбіня" (''Belarusian depth'', 2015) * "Беларуская Хрысціянская Дэмакратыя" (''Belarusian Christian Democracy 1917 - 2017'', 2017) * "Сто асобаў беларускай хрысціянскай дэмакратыі" ( One hundred persons in Belarusian Christian democracy, 2017) * "Беларусалім. Золак" (''Belarusalim. The Dawn'', 2017)

Awards

Paval Sieviaryniec is a laureate of the Ales Adamovich literature prize of the Belarusian PEN Centre, Francišak Aliachnovič Award, Vasiľ Bykaŭ "For Freedom of Thought" Award.

Personal life

On 11 January 2014 married Volha Šylak. They have a son Francišak (born 2018).

References

External links

Personal site

- the party's organizational committee {{DEFAULTSORT:Sieviaryniec, Paval 1976 births Living people People from Orsha Belarusian journalists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Belarus BPF Party politicians Belarusian Christian Democracy politicians Political prisoners according to Viasna Human Rights Centre Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Belarus Belarusian prisoners and detainees Belarusian democracy activists Belarusian dissidents Place of birth missing (living people)