Ideologist Skalaban Bans Concert Of Dzieciuki Band In Minsk

The concert organizers will appeal this decision in court.

Pavel Vitalyevich Skalaban is sitting in a big cozy office in the Independence Square, right in front of the Lenin monument. He has been appointed by the authorities to do a very important job – he is responsible for the ideological work, the issues of culture and youth affairs in Minsk, tuzin.fm writes.

This means, he also decides which concerts should be held in Minsk and which shouldn’t, which bands are allowed to perform onstage, and which should be banned. There’s no way to bypass Pavel Vitalyevich, as if one holds an event without his approval, they get fined.

So, Mr. Skalaban, basing on nobody knows what reasons, decided the Dzieciuki band should not be admitted to the Minsk musical space. He gave a written refusal in response to the application to organize their concert in Minsk. The concert was supposed to be a part of the project “Źyvy Tuzin” in January 2017. The official referred to the traditional in such cases Claim 5 of Chapter 2 of the "Regulations on organization and carrying out of entertainment activities.”

Which says the following:

“It is prohibited to organize and carry out the events, which

- have an aim to advertise war or extremist activity;

- threaten the national security, the public order, the morality and health of the population, the rights and freedoms of the citizens;

- violate the requirements of these Regulations and other legal acts, also in the sphere of copyright and allied rights.”

Skalaban provided no arguments supporting this decision and just gave a formal reply.

The organizers consider the refusal to conduct the concert of the Dzieciuki band illegal, as their creativity does not break a single claim of the above-mentioned regulations. They are going to appeal to the court. The chief ideologist will have to explain there what principles he is pursuing.

The Dzieciuki band was founded in 2012 in Hrodna. They perform music with the history-related lyrics. They work in the folk-punk style. The band released two albums and was named “Band of the Year” at the “Heroes of the Year-2012” award. They have tours in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and other European countries.