MINSK— Authorities in the Belarusian capital Minsk have prevented gay activists from holding protests to mark the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17.

The owner of an online portal focusing on gays in Belarus, Syarhey Androsenka, told RFE/RL that city authorities had rejected a request from the activists to hold three separate demonstrations — in Peoples’ Friendship park, in front of the opposition Belarusian Popular Front party’s offices, and near the Nyamiha subway station. [READ MORE]

Report by RFE/RL’s Belarusian Service. 

Belarusian youth activists say police have “detained” some stuffed animals used in an antigovernment protest in Minsk, in an echo of similar recent protests in Russia…[READ MORE]

MINSK — Belarusian prison officials say jailed businessman and opposition activist Mikalay Autukhovich slashed his wrists to protest his treatment in prison, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, Radio Svaboda, reports…[READ MORE]

Critics of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s reelection last December are marking the first anniversary of that divisive vote, which ushered in rare mass protests and a ruthless crackdown through beatings, jailings, and targeted harassment, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reports.

Nearly 50,000 people rallied in Minsk on election night a year ago, when Lukashenka was declared the winner of a fraud-tainted ballot in which each of his nine rivals was awarded less than 3 percent of the vote…[Read More and watch RFE/RL’s Belarusian service, Radio Svaboda’s video]

From charged courtrooms to “breathing bans” — with a few folk songs thrown in for good measure — RFE/RL’s Radio Svaboda reports the breaking news and backstories from Belarus.

# A court in Belarus has convicted two defendants and sentenced them to death for carrying out a Minsk subway bombing that killed 15 people and injured hundreds of others on April 11, a notable sentence as Belarus is the only country in Europe that still executes its criminals.

# Human rights activist Ales Byalyatski was sentenced by a Belarusian court to 4 1/2 years in prison for tax evasion, a verdict that has prompted international condemnation.

# Riding a bike is out. So is clapping. Now a Belarusian opposition activist has been banned from breathing deeply as a form of protest.

# The most recent episode of The Blender podcast profiles RFE/RL’s Bohdan Andrusyshyn, a.k.a. Danchyk, the American-born singer who won legions of fans for his repertoire of Belarusian and Ukrainian ballads and folk songs. Danchyk has earned an enthusiastic following among U.S. diaspora communities and thousands of Belarusians hungry to hear music in their native language, whose use had dwindled after years of russification.  

Follow news about Belarus at Radio Svaboda and for breaking news in all RFE/RL broadcast regions, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.