Pishchalauski Castle

The Minsk Detention Center No. 1 (SIZO No. 1, Russian: СИЗО №1, Belarusian: СІЗА №1 informally known as Valadarka (Belarusian: Валадарка) is the central prison of the Republic of Belarus located in Minsk.

Pishchalauski Castle
Пішчалаўскі замак (Belarusian)
Пищаловский замок (Russian)
Alternative namesPischalauski Castle
Piszczalauski castle
General information
LocationValadarskaha Street
Minsk, Belarus
Coordinates53°53′56″N 27°32′52″E
Completed1825
Design and construction
ArchitectPishchala
Drawing, 19th century
Photo, 1927

Modern usage

Operated by the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, SIZO No. 1 is also the only facility that houses death row inmates. The execution of death row inmates occurs at the prison.

It is also a pre-trial detention centre where arrested political activists are held.[1]

The building

The historical building is known as Pishchalauski Castle (Belarusian: Пішчалаўскі замак), also spelled Pischalauski Castle. The castle is also sometimes called the Belarusian Bastille.[2] It is a registered state architectural monument.[3]

The castle was built in 1825. It formerly served as a prison. The architect was named Pishchala.[3][2]

A portion of one of the castle's four towers collapsed in April 2008.[2]

Inmates and executions

Russian Empire

Soviet Union

On the night of 29/30 October 1937, during Stalin's Great Terror, NKVD officers executed 36 representatives of Belarusian culture, science and art in the castle basement, by shooting them in the head. Another 52 were executed that night in the basement of the building of the internal prison of the NKVD in Minsk near the Pishchalovsky castle. In total, during the repressions of 1937-1940, about 100 people were executed in the Pishchalovsky Castle, accused of anti-Soviet activities.[4]

During the Great Patriotic War, arrested partisans and members of the underground were kept in the Pishchalovsky Castle. Some were executed or tortured there.

Since 1953, it was the only institution in the Byelorussian SSR where death sentences were carried out.[5]

Opponents of president Lukashenko

Arrested during and after the 2020 presidential campaign, which lead to the contested reelection of Alexander Lukashenko:

See also

References
  1. "Charter'97 :: News from Belarus - Belarusian News - Republic of Belarus - Minsk". charter97.org. Retrieved Aug 14, 2020.
  2. "Tower collapses in "Belarusian Bastille"". BelePAN. April 22, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  3. "Pishchalauski Castle, Minsk, Belarus". Retrieved Aug 14, 2020.
  4. Commemoration of victims of Stalinism took place in Kurapaty. At naviny.by.
  5.  "Volodarka". History of one prison. Retrieved 29 March 2016. Archived 14 April 2016.
  6. "Письма из «таких мест». Юрист Максим Знак: «Там в прекрасном далеко просто должно быть хорошо»" (in Russian). Brestskaya Gazeta. 2021-01-29. Archived from the original on 2021-01-30. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
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