Valiantsin Stefanovich: Ideologists do most harm to Belarus's image

The conclusion on the book “Enlightened by Belarusianness” is politically motivated and has no relation to literary studies.

Valiantsin Stefanovich, the head of Viasna human rights centre, spoke to charter97.org about declaring Ales Bialiatski's book “dangerous of the image of Belarus”.

“Firstly, the so called examination was carried out with numerous violations. Ideological departments cannot be expert commissions. Secondly, I personally regard this conclusion as an absolutely political approach to the book. It doesn't touch on the depth of literary studies or something else,” the lawyer said.

Ideologists accuse Ales Bialiatski's book of being full of anti-Soviet rhetoric, nationalism and other clichés that are more common for the Soviet times, the human rights defender says.

“I had the impression that the so called experts have been in a fridge since the 1970s. They were successfully unfrozen and ordered to give expert conclusions on the Belarus Press Photo 2011 Album and Bialiatski's book. Unlike the albums, the book was not declared extremist, but 'experts' noted that the author had a biased view on the country's past that could harm the image of the Republic of Belarus. I think the most harm to Belarus's image is caused by ideologists,” Valiantsin Stefanovich is confident.

Ideologists from Hrodna say the book “Enlightened by Belarusianness” by Ales Bialiatski is “dangerous for the image of Belarus”.