Theatre directors receive death threat in Belarus state newspaper

Two UK-based theatre directors have been issued a death threat by a state-run newspaper in Belarus, and have called on the UK government to be more proactive in imposing sanctions against dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

The threat was made against Natalia Kaliada and her husband Nicolai Khalezin, who founded Belarus Free Theatre in 2005 and have been living as political refugees in the UK since 2011.

It was published in an article about Belarus Free Theatre on December 27 in state-run newspaper Sovietska Belarus, which ended by saying that Kaliada and Khalezin will be "hunted down and hanged side-by-side".

Another article was published a week later by the same columnist about Khalezin and Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov, saying that the two artists are "destroying their countries because they want Belarus and Ukraine to be pro-European with world values", Kaliada said.

"They feel threatened that our work will really bring the change," she told The Stage.

"Of course they don’t say it that way, but with the language they use and talking about our work on sanctions – they are showing how afraid they are of that work.

"By that article they gave us such a strong message that we have to continue to do what we are doing."

Kaliada praised the work of members of Belarus Free Theatre who are continuing to perform in the country, despite the risk of arrest and torture.

"Nicolai and I are so often moved and heartbroken, but most of the time we feel very proud of our company, which continues to work in horrifying conditions," she said.