How Belarus does not see a crime on the basis of homophobia

In Minsk, the restaurant "Rio" is temporarily Closed after photos and videos from the closed Friends Party party, which took place within its walls, leaked to the network. One of the Telegram channels loyal to the authorities, which regularly feeds on scandals, rolled out a version that the event was allegedly a "disguise for the LGBT movement."

Context. On July 10, 2025, the government of Belarus submitted to the House of Representatives a bill on amendments to the codes relating to administrative responsibility. According to this document, "propaganda of homosexual relations, gender reassignment and childlessness" in Belarus will be fined up to 8000 rubles (approximately 2300 euros). They can also arrest you. 

In Belarus, only one sentence was passed, where homophobia was considered the motive for the crime. In all other cases, people are tried for hooliganism, without taking into account hatred of a social group. Doberman.media tells how the Belarusian authorities do not see the crime of homophobia and use it as an instrument of pressure and humiliation. 

Death of Mikhail Pishchevsky

On May 25, 2014, Mikhail Pishchevsky was beaten by former physical education teacher Dmitry Lukashevich. It happened at the exit from the Minsk club, where a gay party was taking place. 

Pishchevsky was badly injured in a fight and was hospitalized in a coma. He stayed there for a year and a half: the guy deleted one-fifth of the brain. Mikhail did not move and rarely regained consciousness. I was fed through a catheter. Relatives spent up to 18 hours a day with him in the hospital. 

On October 16, 2014, the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk Sentenced Lukashevich to two years and eight months in prison. He was found guilty of hooliganism (Part 1 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code) and of causing grievous bodily harm by negligence (Article 155 of the Criminal Code). 

Procruror asked for seven years in prison for Lukashevich. Relatives of the deceased guy did not agree with the decision and appealed the verdict. It was upheld. 

In October 2015, Pishchevsky died of cardiac arrest. The former teacher who attacked him Out under the amnesty in the same month. 

An article that is almost never taken into account

In the Criminal Code of Belarus There is a an article that fixes the circumstances that aggravate responsibility for the violation committed. A crime on the basis of homophobia falls under the ninth paragraph of the article: committing a crime motivated by enmity or discord against any social group.

"When a case goes to court, the system ignores such a phenomenon as a motif of homophobia. In Belarus with a population of 9.5 million, this motive was recorded in only one case. This is for 27 years of independence. In Lithuania with a population of 3 million, there were 6 such crimes last year, although homophobic guys are also in power there and are very reluctant to record such crimes. There is a mechanism in the law. But it is not used. The story of Misha Pishchevsky is a vivid example of what happens, but what should not happen," — told LGBTQ activist Andrei Zavalei in 2018 to the magazine 34mag.net.

The first sentence in Belarus, where homophobia was taken into account 

The story that Zavalei was talking about is the sentence to 19-year-old Artem Shlyakhtyuk, an activist of the Occupy Pedophilia movement in 2016. 

In November 2015, Shlyakhtyuk met with a guy and beat him after he found out that he was gay. The accused forced him to confess to homosexuality and filmed all this on video. After that, he took about 5 euros from the guy's wallet. 

Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk Sentenced Shlyakhtyuk to two years of home confinement for hooliganism (Part 1 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code) and robbery with the threat of violence (Part 2 of Article 206 of the Criminal Code). The aggravating circumstance was the motive of hostility or discord against a social group — the LGBTQ community. 

Human rights activist Tatyana Revyako believed that it was the resonance around the case of Mikhail Pishchevsky that influenced the court's decision. 

"I don't know how the situation with similar cases will develop further. I am very glad that this has finally happened – the hate motive has been officially voiced and recorded in court documents. It is difficult to judge now whether this will be the only precedent, whether the practice in this direction will develop, the human rights activist said. 

In 2019, 19-year-old Ivan Gulyai attacked for two gay men. First, he beat them, and then the cameraman Nikolai Kuprich, who stood up for them. Kuprich received a TBI and a broken nose. Despite the obvious crime of homophobia, the court did not take this into account and sentenced Gulyai to 1.5 years of home confinement. 

What the authorities say

The position of the Belarusian authorities towards gays is unequivocally homophobic. In 2012, Alexander Lukashenko statedthat "it's better to be a dictator than a gay one." He addressed these words to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

In 2018, the Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Shunevich in the program "Markov. Nothing personal "on ONT" called gays "with holes". 

In March 2020, pro-lifer Vladislav Volokhovich, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz and Archpriest Andrei Lemeshenok collected more than 50 thousand signatures under an appeal to Lukashenka with a request to pass a law banning the propaganda of homosexuality. 

After 2020, the persecution of gays in Belarus intensified. Belarusians detained for participating in protests were forced to talk about their sexual orientation on camera. For example, Vitaliy Rubich forced To say on camera that since 2016 he has been a supporter of non-traditional sexual orientations and periodically has sex with a guy.

In 2021, Belarus ranked 61st out of 150 in the ranking of countries dangerous to LGBTQ people. In 2023, the country prepared a draft amendment to the Code of Administrative Offenses banning LGBT people, pedophilia and gender reassignment. He is already Located at the stage of approval. 

According to BELPOL, two administrative articles will appear in the Code of Administrative Offenses: 19.14 (Propaganda of homosexual relations or gender reassignment) and 19.16 (Propaganda of childlessness). According to them, a person can be fined, sent to community service or arrested.