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Prosecutor General's Office reports numerous violations of heritage protection regulations in Minsk

The Prosecutor General's Office has found a large number of violations of heritage protection regulations in Minsk, Pavel Radzivonaw, a departmental head at the Office, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.

Representatives of the Office randomly inspected buildings on nearby Internatsyyanalnaya Street, Kamsamolskaya Street and Revalyutsyynaya Street and established, in particular, that most of the advertising billboards on their facades had been installed there illegally, Mr. Radzivonaw said. That was done either without permission or in violation of positioning requirements, he noted.

For example, advertising covers nearly 40 percent of the facade of a historic building on Kamsamolskaya Street, while another building on that street features seven multicolor billboards, which looks bad, he said.

The Prosecutor General's Office has requested the culture ministry to remove the illegal billboards from buildings and punish those responsible for violating heritage protection regulations, Mr. Radzivonaw said.

There are more than 5,000 heritage items in Belarus, including about 300 in Minsk, he noted. The Prosecutor General's Office will protect them in cooperation with the culture ministry as required by an agreement that was concluded in July, he said. //BelaPAN