Anzhalika Borys, head of Union of Poles in Belarus, gets fined for concert

09.06.2008. Tags: Union of Poles, culture, fines.
Source: Charter`97.

Anzhalika Borys, head of the unrecognized by the authorities Union of Poles, has been sentenced to a fine of 1.4 million Belarusian rubles for having organized a concert of the well-known Polish band Lombard in Hrodna on 2 May.

According to the police report, Anzhalika Borys is charged with organizing an unsanctioned event.

Anzhalika Borys and representatives of the General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Hrodna mane timed addressed local authorities and asked to give premises for the concert. The group visited the city on the International Day of Poles living abroad. However, the authorities referred to absence of premises and refused to give premises to the concert. Having failed to receive permission for a hall for the gig, the organizers had to hold in outside, but on the private territory of the Fort firm.

Anzhalika Borys believes that the actions of the authorities cause nothing but surprise and misunderstanding. She links the measures against her with the situation in the country today.

Recently the court of Leninski district in Hrodna has also sentenced the head of Hrodna regional branch of the United Civil party Yury Istomin and the deputy chairman of the local branch of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada Viktar Sazonau to huge fines for ‘active participation in an unsanctioned event’.