Volha Sitnik
Volha Sitnik | |
|---|---|
| Вольга Генадзеўна Сітнік | |
 | |
| Born | January 24, 1983 |
| Citizenship | Belarus |
| Alma mater | BNTU (2005) |
| Occupation(s) | activist, Wikipedian |
Volha Henadzyeuna Sitnik (born 24 January 1983) is a Belarusian Wikipedian. She is an administrator of the Belarusian Wikipedia in the official orthography. Author of thousands of articles and hundreds of thousands of edits. Since April 2025, she has been detained multiple times. Together with other Wikipedians, she is a subject in an unspecified criminal case. She has been recognized as a political prisoner by human rights organizations.
Biography
[edit]She was born and raised in Slutsk.[1] She attended Secondary School No. 10 named after S. F. Rubanau. In 2005, she graduated from the Faculty of Information Technology and Robotics, BNTU with a degree in Robotics.[2]
She has been actively editing Wikipedia since 2009 under the pseudonym "Хомелка" (Khomelka). In 2010, she became an administrator of the Belarusian Wikipedia.[3] She mainly writes about the history and culture of Belarus, prominent figures, architectural monuments, and Belarusian flora and fauna.[1] More than twenty of her articles have been awarded "good" or "featured article" status.[3] She is the author of thousands of articles and has made hundreds of thousands of edits.[2][4] She represented the Belarusian Wikipedia at Wikimania 2014 in London.[1]
In addition to Wikipedia, she also contributes to Wikisource and Wikimedia Commons.[1]
Persecution
[edit]On April 17, 2025, Volha stopped responding to messages and editing articles. She was detained, then later released. On May 7, she was detained again and sentenced to 10 days in the Okrestina detention center.[5][6] The nature of the charges remains unknown. Sitnik is part of a criminal case involving other administrators of the Belarusian Wikipedia who were imprisoned. In June 2025, various messages about searching for photographers for protest events were sent in diaspora Telegram chats from Volha's account, which had been seized by security forces.[4] On July 23, 2025, she was recognized as a political prisoner by Belarusian human rights organizations.[7]
Personal life
[edit]She is married.[1] She has three children (an older daughter Hanna and younger twin daughters).[1][2] At the time of her detention in 2025, all were underage.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Kisliak, Vasil (2014-09-07). "Каго заманіла Вікіманія?". Novy Chas (in Belarusian). Archived from the original on 2025-05-15. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ a b c "«Мая мара — каб у інтэрнэце можна было знайсці любую інфармацыю па-беларуску». Інтэрв'ю з беларускімі вікіпедыстамі". Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). 2016-02-11. Archived from the original on 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ a b "Прызначана дата суда над Нінай Багінскай. Хронікі рэпрэсій 15 траўня". Novy Chas (in Belarusian). 2025-05-15. Archived from the original on 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ a b "Спецслужбы шукаюць фатографаў на мітынг Ціханоўскіх праз скрадзены акаўнт арыштаванай рэдактаркі Вікіпедыі". Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). 2025-06-25. Archived from the original on 2025-07-12. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ "Адміністратарку беларускай Вікіпедыі кінулі на суткі". Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). 2025-05-15. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ "Вольга Сітнік". Viasna (in Belarusian).
- ^ "The statement on the recognition of 20 people as political prisoners". Viasna. 2025-07-23.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Праваабаронцы прызналі палітвязьнямі яшчэ 20 чалавек". Radio Svaboda (in Belarusian). 2025-07-23. Retrieved 2025-07-23.