Artists Drazdou and Pushkin apply to the UN
On 2 September 2012 the artists Henadz
Drazdou, Ales Pushkin, Ales Tsyrkunou and Valiantsin Varanishcha, as
well as the public activist Uladzimir Shulzhytski walked along the
streets of Smarhon with portrats of an activist of the anti-Soviet
resistance movement Rastsislau Lapitski. They were detained by the
police and charged with participation in an unauthorized mass event.
Later Mr. Pushkin was sentenced to ten days of arrest for
allegedly disobeying police. The other detainees were fined: Drazdou
and Shulzhytski – 3 million rubles, and Varanishcha – 1 million
rubles.
In their appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee
Henadz Drazdou and Ales Pushkin accuse the Republic of Belarus of
language discrimination.
During the detention Ales Pushkin
demanded that the police officer repeated the order to come to the
police station in the Belarusian language. The latter ignored his
demand, in response to which Mr. Pushkin ignored his order. For this
he was sentenced to arrest.
The Hrodna Regional Court and its
head answered the appeals, filed by Drazdou and Pushkin, in the
Russian language, which the artist considers as a fact of
discrimination.
Drazdou also considers as discrimination the
fact that he wasn't provided with an interpreter when the violation
report was composed at the police station, though he wrote this
demand in the violation report.
Mr. Pushkin considers as
discrimination the fact that his sentence was spoken in the
Belarusian language and the ruling of the Smarhon District Court was
also composed in Russian, though at the trial he used the services of
an interpreter.
The artists consider the sentences for walking
in the city with their paintings and their exhibition in the city
park as a violation of freedom of expression by the Republic of
Belarus.
Both artists filed appeals against this, by their
claims were declared unfounded.