Zmitser Heorhiyevich Kolas

Belarusian translator, literary scholar, and publisher. One of the most renowned popularizers of translated world literature.

Dmitry, the son of literary critic Georgy Kolos and brother of film director and teacher Vladimir Kolos, made a name for himself in the 1980s with his translations from French into Belarusian. Since the 1990s, Kolos has been involved in publishing. The Zmitser Kolas Publishing House is known for publishing world poetry, prose, and plays in the best Belarusian translations.

Dmitry was previously detained by the KGB in early March 2023. However, he was released after 10 days in custody, which he spent in a KGB pretrial detention facility. He has not been charged.

In February 2026, Dmitry was arrested again, amid mass arrests of book publishers and distributors. Dmitry spent 14 days in the Okrestina detention center, after which he was never released. On March 3, 2026, a coalition of print publishers, including the Kamunikat.org Foundation, Lohvinau Publishing House, and Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing, was added to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' updated list of "extremist groups." Yaroslav Ivanyuk, Dmitry Kolos , Igor Logvinov, Vaclav Bogdanovich, Andrei Yanushkevich, and Alexander Evdakha were named in connection with the group. The publishers' websites and social media accounts were also added.