Ministry of Justice Demands Exclusion of Foreigners from Union of Writers

The Ministry of Justice demanded from the Union of Belarusian Writers to exclude the people who live abroad, threatening to liquidate the organization otherwise. Among the foreign members there are the professor of Warsaw University Alexaner Barsczeaski, literature critic from Moscow Alexey Kavka, poet and journalist from Poltava Inna Snarskaya, scientist from St. Petersburg Valentin Grytskevich, etc. All of them write in Belarusian. Some of them joined the Union of Writers during the Soviet rule.

Alies Pashkievich, the chair of the union, says nobody will be excluded from it because the membership in the union doesn’t contradict to its statute. He also thinks this demand is just a formal reason for liquidation of the union.