Belarus Free Theatre members arrested in Minsk protests

Update 12/08/20: The Stage understands that Sveta Sugako and Nadia Brodskaya have now been jailed for 10 and 13 days respectively. The whereabouts of Dasha Andreyanova remains unknown. A fourth member of the company, ensemble member Kirill Konstantinov, has also been arrested.

Three members of Belarus Free Theatre have been arrested in the country’s capital Minsk, during a protest against the results of its presidential election.

The refugee-led theatre company said managing directors Sveta Sugako and Nadia Brodskaya and acting company member Dasha Andreyanova had been arrested while “exercising their basic rights of assembly and protest” on August 9, with authorities giving no information on their whereabouts.

Sunday’s protests followed days of unrest in Minsk, which intensified yesterday as thousands of people took to the streets in protest against a predicted electoral victory for long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko.

BFT confirmed that three of their own members were among what are thought to be about 3,000 people detained over the course of the evening “for protesting [against] the fabricated election results that denied a win to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya”.

A statement sent to The Stage from co-artistic directors Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin said: “Our huge concern at this time is that we do not know the exact location of Nadia, Sveta or Dasha due to he large-scale shutdown of the internet across Belarus.

“They have now run out of prison cells in Belarus, and large numbers of people are being held en masse in makeshift detention facilities. What we do know is that the Belarusian regime has kidnapped and killed its opponents in recent years. There is a major concern for the safety of our members as well as for the safety of all those people arrested across Belarus.”

They urged the UK government to step in and force Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, to step down.

“These governments must provide significant humanitarian, financial and logistical support to organise a smooth transition of power,” they said, also calling for targeted economic sanctions and the freezing of assets.

“Now is the time to act vigorously and swiftly against the regime – there can be no more blood spilt on the streets of Minsk. It is not enough to issue statements and express concern as this situation is not only about the safety and security of the people of Belarus but about stability and peace in Europe,” they said.

A spokesman for UK prime minister Boris Johnson said the violence in Minsk and attempts by Belarusian authorities to suppress the protests were “completely unacceptable”.

A statement reported by Reuters said: “We have previously made clear on many occasions our significant concerns about Belarus’ anti-democratic actions, including the detention of opposition candidates, peaceful protesters and journalists. We’re raising our concerns, again, with the government of Belarus following these protests.”

Tikhanovskaya has said she will challenge the “numerous falsifications” in the presidential vote, in which, according to a state TV exit poll, she won 9.9% of the vote compared with Lukashenko’s 80.2%.