‘Propagating Nazi symbols’: Vitsebsk historian gets 7 days in jail for posting historical photo
Vitsebsk-based photographer and historian Viktar Barysenkau was sentenced to 7 days in jail for sharing a photo of the event from 77 years ago in social networks.
In the photo, Soviet soldiers hold a trophy flag with a swastika in the Belarusian city of Vitsebsk which was liberated from Nazis in the summer of 1944. According to Barysenkau, the picture is available to the public on dozens of websites. Despite this, the local historian was accused of ‘propagating Nazi symbols’.
“Both grandfathers of mine, who were fighting against the occupying power of the [pro-Nazi] police, who are now dead and buried in the mass graves of Vitsebsk region, oversee me from high above; so do my war-hit parents who raised me just the way I am. And I do feel their support. But, Lord, why should all this have happened? What for was I looking for these pictures and showing them to people? For the sake of whom was I wasting my time, my precious life and ruining my sight? Lord, my heart has never distended with false pride; I have always shared the results of my work with people disinterestedly and gratuitously. And what have I got for that? What for did I make presentations and deliver lectures in schools and libraries? I made preparations, had to call off my work for my own behalf, and went there; who really needed it, Lord?” Viktar Barysenkau gave a vent to his emotions on Facebook.
In May, Babruysk-based journalist Uladzimir Repik was charged with ‘propaganda or public display of Nazi symbols or emblems‘ (Article 19.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and fined. In fact, he just left a ‘like’ under a very short video which showed several guys beating up a Nazi who was wearing a T-shirt with a swastika, Repik said.
belsat.eu
