Writers at Risk Database
PEN America champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. The bedrock work of the global PEN network is advocacy and assistance on behalf of individuals persecuted for their use of the written word or other forms of expression. PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database is a searchable catalog of the writers, journalists, academics, public intellectuals and others under threat around the world. The database includes historical cases PEN America has worked on from 1987 onwards; non-active cases are color-coded black. PEN America is grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support that enabled the establishment of the Writers at Risk Database and to PEN International for their collaboration in assembling this database.
Filters
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Status
ImprisonedValery Pazniakievic
Journalist, Online Commentator, Poet, Singer/SongwriterBelarusEurope and Central AsiaPoet and bard Valery Pazniakievic was detained in August 2024 after posting political poems on social media. His poems were analyzed in the investigation against him and he was questioned for writing them in Belarusian as opposed to Russian. He received a series of fines over the next year totalling…
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ReleasedVen. Ngawang Phulchung
Activist, Literary writerChina/Tibet Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificA Tibetan monk, Ngawang led the Drepung printing group, secret producer of pro-independence literature in the late ’80s. Upon discovery of the group, Ngawang was sentenced to 19 years in prison where he suffered torture and inhumane treatment. He was released in 2007.
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Displaced/In ExileVera Polozkova
Creative artist, Journalist, Online Commentator, PoetRussiaEurope and Central AsiaVera Polozkova, a Russian poet, creative artist, journalist, and online commentator, left Russia in March 2022 after the outbreak of war and now lives in Cyprus. In February 2025, she was added to the government’s list of “terrorists and extremists,” and in January 2026 she was reportedly placed on a…
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Conditional ReleaseVernon Gonsalves
Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarIndiaAsia-PacificIn August 2018, Gonsalves was arrested on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists connected to the Bhima Koregaon case in a coordinated raid. For five years, he was detained awaiting trial while his bail pleas were rejected, even as he contracted dengue fever in…
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Continued HarassmentVicky Xu
Creative artist, Journalist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificXu is a comedian and journalist who wrote for the New York Times from Bejing. She has faced multiple instances of harassment in China due to her reporting on the Uyghur people. She moved to Australia but continues to receive threats, which she describes as “psychological torture.” Xu authored the…
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ConvictedVictor Herrero
Journalist, Literary writerChileAmericasEditor and founder of the independent news website Interferencia, Herrero was convicted on charges of defaming a police colonel on May 22, 2023 after he wrote a story on him. The story was based on five anonymous sources and two reporting trips to southern Chile, according to Herrero. He was…
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Displaced/In ExileVictor Ticay
Journalist, Online CommentatorNicaraguaAmericasTicay, a broadcast journalist for a local TV channel, was serving an eight-year prison sentence for his online commentary on his Facebook page La Portada. During his trial in June 2023, he was denied private legal representation and assigned a public defender. He was convicted on politically motivated charges of…
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Displaced/In ExileViktor Shenderovich
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorRussiaEurope and Central AsiaSatirist Shenderovich fled Russia after he was designated as a “foreign agent” in December 2021. He has lived in exile since, but faces continued repression. Reports emerged in 2022 and 2023 that various Russian libraries and booksellers refused to sell his works. He was denied entry to Georgia in June…
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ReleasedVladimir Kara-Murza
Activist, Creative artist, Journalist, Literary writerRussiaEurope and Central AsiaKara-Murza is a journalist, politician, and columnist who has long been targeted for his criticism of the Russian government. He survived two poisoning attempts in 2015 and 2017. He was arrested in April 2022 and charged with disseminating false information about the Russian military. In April 2023, he was sentenced…
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
Funder
PEN America is deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for its generous support of the Freedom to Write Index and Writers at Risk Database.
Partner
PEN America thanks the PEN International Secretariat and the Writers in Prison Committee for their extensive contributions to and collaboration on compiling the cases included in this database.