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Press-Secretary of the Belarusian Orthodox Church: Kurapaty Should Be Treated as a Sacred Place

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Press-Secretary of the Belarusian Orthodox Church: Kurapaty Should Be Treated as a Sacred Place
Archpriest Siarhei Lepin

There are three important reasons.

There are three reasons to treat Kurapaty as a sacred place. Archpriest Siarhei Lepin, Chairman of the Sinodal Information Department of the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC), told Krynica.info.

"First, Kurapaty is a cemetery; second, this is the place of mass repressions; third, it is the monument of culture," he notes.

According to father Siarhei, all works must be based on these three points. "On the other hand, there must be set boundaries of this holy place based on excavation to avoid both the attempted sanctity and unnecessary speculation around neighbouring territories. We have voiced this position and it still remains the same. I don't know what should happen to make us change it. It does not matter whether there is construction site or not, it only have influence on the level of tension in the society," the priest stressed.

Archpriest Siarhei Lepin also recalled that Kurapaty had an Orthodox religious community with valid divine services. "We remind about the need to pray and to avoid an escalation of hatred and aggression," he added.

Earlier Archbishop Tadeush Kandrusevich called Kurapaty "the Golgotha of the 20th century of our nation". He called on the authorities of Minsk, the Ministry of Culture, developers, local residents and Kurapaty defenders and representatives of various faiths and lawyers to hold an open dialogue and to look for a solution to this problem.

It will be recalled that the protest action continues on Miroshnichenko Str., Minsk. A five-storey business centre should be built there. Young Front activists oppose it, before 2014 it used to be the part of Kurapaty. Later the protective zone was significantly cut.

Activists stay their all the time. There were several clashes between builders and them.

There was a meeting between the developer of the business centre and the Minsk City Executive Committee on February 23. Authorities promised to look through the validity of the object on the site and give an answer a few days later. In the meantime, the company is allowed to arrange the construction site to ensure the safety of citizens: to install fencing, canopy tops and electricity.

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