The Belarusian Council for Culture announces a campaign in support of a prominent Belarusian researcher and activist whose plans were suddenly interrupted by a serious diagnosis.
Dear friends,
we are reaching out to you with a request to support someone close to us Yuras Yurkevich.
A Belarusian born in Estonia, Yuras has devoted all his energy to working for the benefit of Belarus. His research and civic work have always been closely connected to Belarusian issues, human rights, and support for civil society. He has consistently tried to respond to the needs of others and, together with his wife Nasta, helped many repressed cultural figures through our assistance program. In the autumn, Yuras began substantial academic research on the cultural destruction of the Belarusian nation for a London university.
However, these ambitious plans and intentions had to be put on hold. At the end of 2025, Yuras was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The diagnosis proved to be very serious — malignant glioblastoma. In December, he underwent a complex neurosurgical operation, after which Yuras experienced severe aphasia the loss of speech and writing as well as impaired function of his right hand. He now needs long-term neurological and speech therapy rehabilitation.
At the same time, at least six courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy lie ahead. This requires great physical strength, but also significant financial costs. The entire financial burden falls on the family, whose income is not comparable to the expenses for treatment and rehabilitation.
Therefore, we are asking for your support. Every contribution matters and will help Yuras focus on fighting for his life and recovery.
The fundraising goal is EUR 15,000, which we hope to raise for Yuras. This money will go toward specialist consultations, rehabilitation (a physiotherapist and a neuro-speech therapist), and medications that accompany the main treatment and are needed for recovery during and between the demanding courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
For these purposes, the Belarusian Council for Culture has opened a dedicated account. All funds received will be transferred directly to Yuras and Nasta, with no percentage or service fees deducted.
If you have any questions about this situation, please contact us at rada_help@byculture.org.
Here are just a few of Yuras Yurkevich’s important contributions:
- He organized the submission to the International Criminal Court in The Hague of documents on the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of Belarus (together with Viasna, BelPol, and Ukrainian partners).
- As a researcher, he uncovered film archives of Stanislau Bulak-Bulakhovich and photographs from the history of the Separate Detachment of the Belarusian People’s Republic (published in Oleg Latyshonok’s book Soldiers of the BNR), and he published the book Balakhovtsy (released as a special issue of the journal Arche).
- As an activist, he initiated the installation of a memorial plaque on the building in Tallinn where the Embassy of the Belarusian People’s Republic in Estonia was located in 1920, and he initiated the installation of a memorial plaque honoring Frantsishak Bahushevich in Vilnius.
- As a manager and curator, he contributed to the emergence of important independent Belarusian media projects (Tok on nn.by, The National Idea on Euroradio, Malanka Media, and others).
- As a human rights expert, he took part in creating the civic monitoring platform Zubr, which documented violations of the law during the 2020 presidential election.
SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW.
