Ales Bialiatski’s book banned in Belarus
A court in Belarus rules to ban the book written by prominent human rights defender and political prisoner Ales Bialiatski.
Ashmyany District Court judge Tatstsyana Yemelyanovich announced the court’s decision as regards the complaint lodged by human rights defender Tatstsyana Ravyaka against Ashmyany Customs on February 11.
Customs officers forbade importing Ales Bialiatski’s book Enlightened by Belarusian Culture. They decided that the the book could do damage to Belarus’ national interests – the experts who studied the book came to the conclusion.
Ravyaka: “It sounds paradoxical. Both expertises were announced inadmissible because they had been conducted with law violations. However, the book will be forbidden in the Republic of Belarus anyway – due to the judge’s inner conviction.”
A few dozen books are still at Ashmyany Customs now. Tatstsyana Ravyaka is going to lodge a complaint to Hrodna Province Court.
Nevertheless, she is partially satisfied with the decision made by Ashmyany District Court. Ashmyany Customs may stop conducting illegal expertises (that were conducted for Belarus Press Photo and Valery Karbalevich’s book Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Political portrait), the human rights defender hopes.
Photo: svaboda.org
