Freedom for the Black Nightingales – Children, Anarchists, Political Prisoners in Belarus
Children political prisoners in Belarus remain behind bars for anti-war dissent.
For almost a decade, Our House has been one of the very few organisations consistently working on the issue of children behind bars in Belarus, engaging not only with cases of political persecution but also with those involving minors imprisoned under draconian criminal legislation, where even non-violent offences can result in sentences of eight to ten years, and where, in practice, a fourteen-year-old can receive a decade-long prison term for something as minor as smoking marijuana.
Within this system, children are not merely punished – they are subjected to violence from the very moment of detention, including beatings, humiliation, and torture, both during the investigative phase and throughout their imprisonment, while institutions such as the juvenile colony in Bobruisk have long been described by former detainees as places where conditions are harsher than in adult prisons; moreover, credible testimonies point to constant threats, including threats of sexual violence, which are used as an additional means of pressure against minors in custody.
It is precisely because of this long-standing engagement that we approach cases involving minors with particular urgency; yet even within this already alarming landscape, the case of Aliaksandra Pulinovich stands out as something qualitatively different – something that cannot be normalised, ignored, or absorbed into routine reports on repression.
Aliaksandra was sixteen years old when she was detained – taken directly from school, reportedly in handcuffs and by force – after which she was held in conditions that included isolation and psychological pressure, and ultimately sentenced to more than ten years in prison. She is now nineteen, and she remains behind bars, officially labelled a “terrorist,” a designation that carries not only symbolic weight but also very concrete consequences: restrictions on contact with her family, limitations on receiving parcels or financial support, and intensified control within the prison system.
Moreover, as a political prisoner, she is forced to wear a yellow identification badge – a mark imposed by the Belarusian authorities to single out political detainees – a practice which, in its logic of stigmatization and segregation, inevitably recalls historical systems of marking and isolating targeted groups.
Her case is part of the so-called “Black Nightingales” case, a group prosecution involving six individuals, five of whom were minors at the time of their arrest. These are teenagers who identified themselves as anarchists and who initially engaged in anti-war activity, openly opposing the war; their actions were non-violent in nature, yet the case was constructed and reframed by the authorities as a violent “terrorism” case.
When nearly every sphere – from education and employment to belief, association, and even private relationships – is subject to regulation and surveillance, it is neither surprising nor pathological that young people seek alternative frameworks of autonomy and dissent. What is striking, however, is the extent to which such expressions — including explicitly anti-war positions – have been criminalised and reclassified as terrorism.
The label of “terrorism”, combined with the clearly fabricated nature of the case, has had a devastating effect: it has rendered these children invisible. Their case remains largely unknown both within Belarus and internationally, deprived of attention, solidarity, and the basic recognition that is often the first step toward protection.
In such conditions, non-violent youth resistance is not extremism; it is a response to systemic pressure and structural violence. Yet instead of protection, these young people have been met with repression, isolation, and long-term imprisonment.
This is not only a national issue. It is a violation of international law — of the rights of the child, of the prohibition of torture, and of the most basic guarantees of a fair trial.
To remain silent in the face of such a case is to accept the normalization of the imprisonment of children for their beliefs.
Freedom for the Black Nightingales is therefore not a slogan, but a demand grounded in both legal obligation and moral responsibility.
Freedom for the Black Nightingales.
Freedom for Aliaksandra Pulinovich.
Freedom for children imprisoned for political reasons in Belarus.
Freedom for Belarusian anarchist youth persecuted for anti-war dissent.
Let’s open the prison doors for the Black Nightingales.
Olga Karach
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