LGBT activist summoned thrice for criticism of Belarus authorities’ homophobia
Belsat
4 June 2018, 17:36
Vika Biran has been summoned to Tsentralny and Leninski district police department in Minsk, activist Nick Antipov said on Facebook.
Last week Maskouski disctrict police department drew a protocol upon her for ‘the mass event, i.e. a one-man picket. The trial is to take place on June, 6, but Vika will not be present as she is abroad at the moment. She asked the authorities to postpone the hearing, but there has been no response yet.
On May 24, protesting against the recent homophobic statement by the Interior Ministry, Vika Biran had three pictures taken in front of the ministerial building, the KGB headquarters and the House of Government. She was holding the poster ‘It Is You Who Are Fake’. All the buildings mentioned above are situated in different districts of Minsk, that is why she has received summonses from three police departments.
At the same time, Vika stressed that her actions could hardly be called ‘picketing’, she was just photographed near official buildings with the poster in her hands.
As reported earlier, the Belarusian Ministry expressed resentmentover the fact that the British Embassy in Minsk displayed a rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT community, on May 17. British diplomats made such a move to draw public attention to LGBT people and the discrimination they face. The ministry’s controversial stance has not gone unnoticed by foreign media.
4 June 2018, 17:36
Image facebook Nick Antipov
Last week Maskouski disctrict police department drew a protocol upon her for ‘the mass event, i.e. a one-man picket. The trial is to take place on June, 6, but Vika will not be present as she is abroad at the moment. She asked the authorities to postpone the hearing, but there has been no response yet.
On May 24, protesting against the recent homophobic statement by the Interior Ministry, Vika Biran had three pictures taken in front of the ministerial building, the KGB headquarters and the House of Government. She was holding the poster ‘It Is You Who Are Fake’. All the buildings mentioned above are situated in different districts of Minsk, that is why she has received summonses from three police departments.
At the same time, Vika stressed that her actions could hardly be called ‘picketing’, she was just photographed near official buildings with the poster in her hands.
As reported earlier, the Belarusian Ministry expressed resentmentover the fact that the British Embassy in Minsk displayed a rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT community, on May 17. British diplomats made such a move to draw public attention to LGBT people and the discrimination they face. The ministry’s controversial stance has not gone unnoticed by foreign media.
“We are for true-life things, and they [LGBT] shall not pass!” the official statement said. The top officials called same-sex marriages and affairs ‘fake’.
