House of Representatives: Banning Ribbon of Saint George is out of place

The lower chamber of Belarusian parliament, the House of Representatives, has replied to an online petition seeking to ban the usage of the ribbon of Saint George in Belarus. Head of the education, culture and science committee at the House of Representatives Ihar Marzalyuk replied that the collective appeal was studied and that  banning the Ribbon of Saint George is out of place in Belarus.

“Banning it would be like a spit in the face of those few living fighters against fascists. It would humiliate our memory about numerous victims of the war,” Marzalyuk wrote. “The fact that the ribbon of Saint George is being used for certain political purposes nowadays cannot change the positive attitude to it as it is one of the symbols of the Victory. Even the fact that it was used by the Vlasov Army [Russian collaborators with the Nazis] did not change the attitude.”

The authors of the petition note that the usage of ribbons of Saint George is forbidden in a number of neighbouring states (Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia). Belarusians often get fined for using the ribbons when they cross the border into those countries. Furthermore, the usage of ribbons of Saint George is causing conflicts inside Belarus, they claimed.