Year without Mikhail Zhyzneuski. Will Belarus and Ukraine ever recognise him as hero?
A year ago Mikhail Zhyzneuski, a Belarusian victim, was killed in the course of the Revolution of dignity in Kyiv. He was only four days shy of his 26th birthday when he was shot in the heart. His family says Mikhail sent them a gift ‘from the other world’.
On the first anniversary of the start of protests at Kyiv’s Maidan Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to the killed in the standoff. Three foreign victims, however, were awarded with orders of hero of Heaven Hundred because the title of Hero of Ukraine may be given only to its citizens. On November 28, 2014 Petro Poroshenko handed the order over to Mikhail’s parents. Yesterday the head of state visited a monument to Zhyzneuski in Kyiv and honoured his memory.
But the attitude to the late compatriot in Belarus is different. Nina Zhyzneuskaya, Mikhail’s mother, says that a lot of people in Belarus call her son ‘a bandit and Nazi’. Someone keeps taking away a Ukrainian flag from Mikhail’s grave. When a group of activists hold actions calling to erect a monument to him police often persecute and arrest them. The woman believes that awarding the title of Hero of Ukraine would bring about a change for the better.
What do residents of Minsk think of Mikhail? Watch our video with English subtitles:
Mikhail wanted to buy a flat for his parents in the Belarusian city of Homel. Due to foundations’ support and fundraising in Belarus and Ukraine his dream came true. His family has recently moved to a separate apartment.
“This is a gift from him, from the other world. But it hurts that we have such a present [such a heavy price is paid – Belsat]. If only Misha was alive we’d rather live in the street,” the mother told RFE/RL.
Mikhail ‘Loki’ Zhyzneuski left Belarus in 2005 and lived in the town of Bila Tserkva near Kyiv. He was shot dead on the morning of January 22 in Hrushevskoho Street. Zhyzneuski was an activist of Ukrainian organisation UNA-UNSO (The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense). He was buried near the village of Znamya Pracy (Flag of Labour), Homel region.
