The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Svetlana Alexievich is to sit on a coordination council to ensure any peaceful power transition in Belarus. She is joined by activists Ales Bialacki, Maria Kalesnikava, Pavel Belavus and others.
Alexievich, known for her oral histories on Chernobyl and the role of women in World War I, has previously denounced the incumbent autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, condeming what are widely recognised as rigged elections last week and the subsequent state violence against those protesting the result. ‘Step down until it’s too late, until you throw the people into a terrible abyss, into the abyss of civil war. Step down’ she said in a video message.
On 10 August Alyaksandr Taraykouski was killed by police and thousands have been arrested and beaten after taking to the streets. In a speech Lukashenko has said he would rather be killed than have fresh elections. The president claimed 80 per cent of the vote over popular opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Kanstancin Shyshmakou, the director of the Vaukavysk Museum, an institution in the west of the country dedicated to military history, was found dead on 19 August. Shyshmakou, who volunteered as a member of the electoral commission, had refused to sign the electoral protocol confirming the validity of the count in his precinct. On 16 August he disappeared having told his wife that day his refusal to collaborate had caused trouble at work. His body was discovered in the Nioman river, a post on the the Nasha Niva Telegram channel claims.
Joining Alexievich in her condemnation yesterday was the country’s former minister of culture and head of one of Minsk’s most prominent theatres. After coming out in solidarity with the opposition movement Pavel Latushka was fired from his job as director of Kupala National Theatre, prompting a wave of resignations from within the company and further solidarity demonstrations outside. Latushka has previously been close to the regime and until 2019 was the ambassador to Spain.
Video shows actors laying their resignation letters down at the feet of the current minster of culture, Yurii Bondar, after he told them that the theatre was no place for politics.
An open letter aimed at the international arts community yesterday, signed by artists Anna Balash, Maxim Sarychev, Veronika Ivashkevich, Anya Yakubovich and culture workers across the country, described the situation:
‘Starting from August 9, 2020, police and military have been applying an unprecedented level of force and brutality against peaceful citizens. They used specialized equipment, such as rubber bullets, stunning grenades, tear gas, water cannons, etc., as well as physical violence against unarmed people at peaceful rallies, thus violating civil rights guaranteed in accordance with the Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. We demand launching an independent investigation into every act of brutality and violence committed by police structures.
As of today, the total number of detained citizens across the country stands at 7,000. According to the eyewitnesses, people are held in inhuman conditions: up to 40-50 detainees are placed in cells designed to hold 10. This is especially dangerous and unacceptable in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The detainees are denied access to water, food, hygiene and medical care. Their families and friends are not informed about their location. They do not have access to legal assistance and are handled with physical and mental violence. There are detainees (men, women and teenagers) who didn’t take part in the peaceful protests but were targeted by the police in a random fashion and seized when they passed by on their way from work or walked a dog.
We demand an investigation into these atrocities and malfeasance committed by the law enforcement agencies.’
