Harry Potter fans fight for Belarusian edition amidst sanctions

So far, only three parts of the teenage wizard's adventures have been published in Belarusian. Unfortunately, Belarusian fans of Harry Potter may not see the next ones. It's all due to the sanctions imposed on Belarus, which actively supports Russia in the war on the Ukrainian front.

The entire series is published in Poland by the "Januszkiewicz" publishing house, which is registered there. The obstacle to the appearance of the next volumes of "Harry Potter" in Belarusian is the ban issued by the copyright owner.

They want nothing to do with anything Belarusian as long as there are sanctions on Belarus. All our explanations that we are under Polish jurisdiction turned out to be futile. We did everything we could. We describe such actions as discrimination against national culture - emphasises the publisher, Andrej Januszkiewicz.

The news of the halt to further publications about Potter outraged his fans, who started a petition on change.org to grant the right to publish the adventures of the teenage wizard in Belarusian.

So far, almost 1700 people have signed the petition.

In their petition, the authors emphasise that it is not Belarusian culture that has been sanctioned, but Belarus led by the Lukashenko regime. The publishing house, which so far has published "Harry Potter," operates in Poland and has published works by Stephen King in Belarusian, among others.

Another argument for allowing the publication of the subsequent parts of J.K. Rowling's series in Belarusian is the fact that more and more Belarusians are leaving the country for political reasons. Among them are a significant number of families with children.

Offering "Harry Potter" in Belarusian could provide these children with much-needed comfort and support their emotional well-being in Belarus and abroad - explain the petition authors.

Finally, they point out that the survival of the Belarusian language is uncertain. The regime in Belarus suppresses the use of the native language in favour of Russian. Knowledge of the Belarusian language can result in accusations and even imprisonment. Meanwhile, publishing books in this language would be an open resistance to Russian propaganda.

The petition authors want to gather 2,500 signatures and then submit it to Blair, the company that holds the copyright to the Harry Potter series.