An independent Belarusian publishing house in exile says the British copyright holder of the Harry Potter books has refused to work with it, citing Western sanctions imposed on the Belarusian government.
Andrey Yanushekvich, who registered a branch of the Yanushkevich publishing house in Poland in early 2023 after he fled Belarus, told RFE/RL on July 2 that he and his colleagues had exhausted all possible means to persuade The Blair Partnership company to lift its ban on publishing four books of the Harry Potter series in Belarusian.
"We were unable to find a common language with the rights holders. They do not want to be associated with anything Belarusian while the Republic of Belarus is under sanctions," Yanushkevich said.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Yanushkevich publishing house in Belarus published three Harry Potter books by British author J.K. Rowling in Belarusian -- Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban.
The launching of Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets in Belarusian was scheduled for September 26, 2020, just weeks after a presidential election that was followed by unprecedented monthslong rallies protesting the official result of the poll, which handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, a sixth term.
On September 15, 2020, the Belarusian Customs Service requested an official letter from the publisher confirming that "the book does not call for the overthrow of the existing government" in Belarus, which sparked a reaction from protesters, who placed on the Internet pictures of Harry Potter characters challenging Lukashenka.
Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets eventually did get to the bookstores, but in 2022 Belarusian authorities confiscated the Yanushkevich publishing house's equipment and froze its bank accounts, citing financial misdeeds.
The publishing house's own bookstore, Knihauka, was vandalized and shut down in May 2022.
SEE ALSO: How The Belarus Regime Is Destroying The Books It Doesn't LikeAndrey Yanushkevich himself was sentenced to 28 days in jail, and his colleague, Nasta Karnatskaya, served 23 days in jail on unspecified charges.
After serving the terms, they fled Belarus.
In January 2023, Yanushkevich registered a branch of his publishing house in Poland and a little later opened a Knihauka bookstore in Warsaw. He planned to publish four remaining books in the Harry Potter series -- Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows -- but The Blair Partnership informed Yanushkevich on July 1 of the suspension of their cooperation because of the Western sanctions imposed on Belarus over its support of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
According to Yanushkevich, The Blair Partnership had refused to reconsider its decision despite the fact that his publishing house is registered in Poland.
Contacted by RFE/RL, Blair Partnership officials responded via e-mail that they "need time" to prepare comments on their decision to suspend the publishing of Harry Potter series books in Belarusian via Yanushkevich's company.
"Unfortunately, the British partners see us in a 'crooked mirror' and make decisions that are not in our favor," Yanushkevich said, expressing his hope that the author of the prominent series, J.K. Rowling, might influence The Blair Partnership to revisit its decision if she learns about the situation.