Artist Ales Pushkin Fined For ‘History Lesson’

Ales Pushkin does not admit guilt and will appeal the decision of the court.

On October 30, the judge of the Krupki district court considered the administrative case of Ales Pushkin under part 1 of Article 23.34, writes Novy Chas.

Ales Pushkin's active participation in the "History Lesson" on the topic of the Slutsk Uprising on September 1 was qualified by the judge as an unauthorized mass event and an administrative offense.

For obtaining in-depth knowledge for his son Mikalai about the heroes of the Slutsk uprising, the artist must replenish the state treasury by Bn 115.

Ales Lahvinets and organizer of the lesson Alina Nahornaya testified in court.

Lawyer Vadzim Mushinsky helped to defend the right to the creative journey of an extraordinary artist in the city of Slutsk with portraits of the heroes of the Slutsk uprising.

The artist, his son Kolya and the portrait of the commander of the 2nd Grozovsky Regiment, Lukash Semianiuk, took their place on the dock.

8-grader Kolya was afraid that his father would be sent to jail, so he is quite satisfied with the sentence. He left the court hall merrily.

Ales Pushkin took the sentence of the Krupki court as a relatively mild measure compared to the decisions of the Slutsk and Minsk courts in the same case with regard to other participants of the action.

According to Ales Pushkin, the consideration of the case lasted for over two hours, the judge listened to everyone for a long time very attentively, studied material evidence, praised the artist for the portrait, having said he was a good painter.

Another fined participant of the lesson, Ales Lahvinets, said that the judge listened to the arguments of the witnesses and the lawyer and therefore issued a rather mild sentence.

— It is clear that we insisted that it was a small cultural event for several people, — the public activist shared information about the trial. "Even the Slutsk policemen, who took our lesson, never warned about its illegality." In the situation with the general punishment of public activity, we did not expect an acquittal.

Ales Pushkin, in spite of the relative softness of the administrative punishment, does not consider himself an offender and will appeal the fine.

On November 1, the artist will again visit the town of Slutsk. This time - at the special invitation of the court of the Slutsk district. The consideration of his administrative case, according to the correspondence protocol of September 1, starts there at 4 p.m..

The point is, the artist left a special gift tot he town of Slutsk on the temporary fence near the building of the local history museum — 3 drawn portraits of the heroes of Slutsk uprising, painted by himself.

The local law enforcement agencies, far from artistic creativity, regarded this gift as a violation of the rules for the maintenance of settlements. The famous artist will be able to walk along Ulasavets Street and will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the architecture of the court buildings, the police and the prosecutor's office — they are located next to this street.