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Scriptwriter Kureychyk quits public council on culture over reporting ban on him

Prominent scriptwriter Andrey Kureychyk on Wednesday announced that he had withdrawn from the National Public Council on Culture and Arts over a reporting ban on him.

Earlier in the day, reports appeared on the Internet that state media outlets had received a blacklist of Belarusian and foreign artists whose names must be shunned for their criticism of the Lukashenka regime. Apart from Mr. Kureychik, the list features Russian cult rocker Yury Shevchuk, British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, Pet Shop Boys, Russian writer Andrei Bitov, actors Jude Law and Kevin Spacey, as well as Belarusian rock bands Krama, N.R.M. and Lyapis Trubetskoi.

“I was aware that my name was placed on such lists a long time ago,” Mr. Kureychyk commented to BelaPAN. “Journalists whom I know often told me that they had tried to invite me to take part in a TV show or write about some event, but their editors had not allowed them to do that because of the blacklists.”

Mr. Kureychyk said that the existence of the list had not come as a surprise to him. “I am surprised that it has been disclosed to the public,” he noted.

Commenting on the operation of the recently established National Public Council on Culture and Arts, Mr. Kureychyk described it as an odd initiative. “The Council has not yet made a single independent move," he said. "We listened more to officials instead of discussing something. I kept a low profile, but I was upset that the Council would not consider vital issues concerning theater and cinema. I got irritated.”

He said that his withdrawal from the Council was a “principled stance.” “When the country is sliding into the Middle Ages and something what was happening when poets of the Silver Age were persecuted is taking place today, why should I be affiliated with a government-controlled council?” Mr. Kureychyk said. “I think that the first thing that the Council should do now is to condemn the blacklist.”

He said that he could perhaps understand the position of “officials who are ready to destroy culture just to curry favor.” “But the artists who are members of this Council should not tolerate such things under any circumstances,” he stressed.

When reached by BelaPAN, a spokesperson for the culture minister denied that the blacklist exists, dismissing the reports as false.