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‘Are You Going To Hold World Cup With Such Person?’

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‘Are You Going To Hold World Cup With Such Person?’
SASHA FILIPENKO

Belarusian writer criticized the head of IIHF for meeting with Lukashenka.

In early January, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper published an open letter from Sasha Filipenko to President of the International Ice Hockey Federation Rene Fasel. The Belarusian writer asked the head of the IIHF to pay attention to the months-long protests and human rights violations in Belarus and, in this regard, to refuse to host matches of the 2021 World Cup in Minsk. Latvia has refused to jointly hold the tournament with Belarus, some national teams are going to boycott the competition, but despite this there is no decision to postpone the tournament yet. On Friday, the German edition published Filipenko's second appeal to Fasel. Snob publishes the Russian version with the permission of the author.

- Dear Rene Fasel,

Unfortunately, you did not reply to my first letter, which was published by FAZ, and then reprinted by the largest newspaper in Sweden. This is understandable - these days you had a very tight schedule (!), you not only hugged the dictator, but even surpassed the expectations of all Belarusians by taking a photo with Dzmitry Baskau - the man involved in the murder of artist Raman Bandarenka. You took a picture not with the customer, but with a person who, one autumn evening, having previously agreed with friends (there is an audio recording of conversations), having this intention, went to the Minsk courtyard to “go wild” and beat people, this was his initial plan, which resulted in the death of a thirty-year-old artist. With this person you are going to hold the World Cup - it takes a lot of time, I understand, but I do not understand only one thing: did he intimidate you, financially interest you, or are you just sympathetic?

I understand that in such a tight schedule you did not have time to visit the mother of the murdered Raman Bandarenka and ask her if she dreams of the Ice Hockey World Championship, which is naturally organized by her son's killers? However, this woman is unlikely to deserve your high attention, because the Belarusian state, which (according to you) is ready for dialogue, did not recognize Raman Bandarenka's mother as a victim of the murder of her own son. On the other hand, can you expect otherwise? Since September, with ten killed, with 450 cases of torture documented by the UN, ZERO criminal cases have been opened in Belarus for harming protesters. I understand this, but I do not understand how you manage to pretend at every press conference that you do not notice this disaster?

The dictator's hugs are strong, it is difficult to break out of them for at least half an hour, so you hardly found time to visit Swiss citizen Natallia Hersche, who got two and a half years in prison for participating in the PEACEFUL women's march and during a brutal detention tried to remove the mask from the man WITHOUT INSIGNIA, who dragged her into the paddy wagon. Do you know that thousands of people who passed through Belarusian prisons in recent months were detained by unmarked security forces? During your World Cup, will you put tournament logos on their chevrons? I suggest a swastika folded from batons.

I understand that in Minsk you had a very tight schedule, but maybe you managed to stop by the political prisoners? There are 170 (!) of them, of course, you can't visit all of them, but maybe you were able to visit at least one? I understand that you have a beautiful suit, and the Belarusian prison is full of covid, there is no heating and hot water to wash your hands, but maybe your old friend, ready for dialogue, showed you at least a photo from there?

I understand that in Minsk, where a civil conflict has been unfolding for more than four months, you were engaged in an important matter, organizing a tournament that would legitimize the power of the dictator, but maybe at the same time you found time to visit the courtyard, where at the time when you took pictures with the person involved in the murder of Raman Bandarenka, people were detained for drinking tea?

I understand that you have a lot of things to do, but maybe this morning, feeling nostalgic for Minsk, you decided to read the news of Belarus and learned that six women were arrested in a forest near Vitsebsk for pole-walking in a group? Are you touched? Have you already missed Belarus?

Dear Mr. Rene Fasel, I understand perfectly well that you are unlikely to answer this letter either, so I just want to tell you that the next time you go hugging a dictator, you can stay at my house - I, like many other Belarusians, cannot return to my home country and enjoy your championship, but my apartment is still free.

“In Belarus, sports and politics are linked like nowhere else”

In an interview with Snob, Sasha Filipenko added that the holding of the championship in Minsk, in his opinion, would become the legitimization of the current Belarusian government:

“Lukashenka associates himself with ice hockey all his life. Having held the championship in Minsk, he will show that the situation in the country has allegedly returned to normal. In Belarus, sports and politics are linked like nowhere else. Therefore, a very clear signal must be given that it is impossible to hold a championship in a country where such terrible things are happening that Europe experienced the last time only in the seventies of the last century. The championship in Minsk will be a blow not even to Belarus, but first of all to the International Ice Hockey Federation itself, which is holding this tournament. I am now communicating with Swedish colleagues and I think that Swedes and other Scandinavian countries will not fly to Minsk. My feeling is that they will boycott [the competition]. ”

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