In Belarus, musicians were sentenced to two years in prison for playing bagpipes at a protest rally

The prosecution alleges that the musicians led protesters on many occasions and used musical instruments to draw citizens into an unsanctioned mass rally.

Nadezhda and Vladimir Kalach were detained on August 2, 2021 at the celebration of Nadezhda’s birthday. Together with them, 14 more people were detained. They were accused of insubordination to police officers (Article 24.3 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus), but later the charge was re-qualified. Press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reportedthat criminal proceedings were instituted against six detainees for participating in the August marches, and administrative protocols of disobedience were drawn up against ten of them. The musicians and their friends were detained by employees of the GUBOPiK and SOBR with a drone and shooting, writes “Spring”.

Irdorath is a popular fantasy-folk group in Belarus and abroad that performs original, folk and medieval music, uses bagpipes, lyre, bouzouki.