With the Belarusian KGB afraid of free speech, religion, democracy, market economics, free flow of information, and so on, it's of little surprise that they're also afraid of the arts -- even when the play is in a private home with foreign citizens in attendance. Jan Maksymiuk from Radio Free Europe reports:Police officers on August 22 raided a private house in Minsk hosting a performance of an unregistered theater company called Free Theater. Some 50 spectators and actors, including several foreigners, were detained during the raid. Belapan reported on August 23 that the police released "almost all" of the detainees several hours after the raid without bringing any charges against them. It was unclear how many remained in jail.
On the night of the raid, Free Theater director Mikalay Khalezin told RFE/RL in a phone call that the detainees were kept in an "unbelievably hot" hall with nothing to drink, and were prevented from using the bathroom. "The police have not yet made any accusations against us," Khalezin said. "But what can they say? Is a performance in a private house really a crime?"
