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So it was in the Grand Committee Room on Monday when the politics of Europe’s last dictator were presented in a remarkable performance by Jude Law. The actor is a Hollywood star and number one British heart-throb in the celebrity pages of our tabloid press as well as Hello, Heat and OK. But he has a second passion — for human rights — and that was on display on behalf of the oppressed people of Belarus.

Together with fellow actor and Old Vic artistic director, Kevin Spacey, as well as the playwright, Tom Stoppard, whose commitment to pro-democracy politics goes back to Charter 77, Jude Law came to the Commons to make his plea for freedom in Belarus. British ministers are fulminating about the odious Colonel Gaddafi as they call him every name under the Libyan sun as they work up public opinion to support the military intervention against the dictator of Tripoli. But there is another dictator a bit closer to home and that is the Macbeth of Minsk, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has held sway over his people since 1994. Lukashenko has to allow periodic elections under the Belarus constitution but he makes sure they are rigged. The OSCE has declared invalid every Belarus election since 1996.

There was one late last year. When 50,000 people demonstrated for democracy in Minsk on 19 December 2010 they were attacked by police. Several presidential candidates are still being held in KGB prisons. Twenty journalists are also detained.

There are so many places around the world where the political opponents of regimes are locked up. So how does one draw attention to Belarus? Index of Censorship, under the energetic leadership of the former political editor and Moscow correspondent, John Kampfner, has been working with Belarus Free Theatre and supported the link-up with Jude Law, Kevin Spacey and Sir Tom Stoppard (why a humble K and not a peerage for our greatest living playwright, by the way?) to present a production by the Belarus actors at the Commons.

The actors from Belarus have left their country as the alternative was to risk rotting in prison. They are stateless, homeless, and like a wandering set of players from Shakespeare’s time go from country to country seeking to play their parts and highlight oppression back home. (Memo to Teresa May: Allow them visas to stay here. Don’t be mean.)

Jude Law performed an amazing double-act satire with Nikolai Khalezin — Law speaking English and Khalezin his native Belarussian. The play, Generation Jeans, explains the market for blue jeans and rock music in Berlarus where trade in Western commodities, is as difficult as trade in democratic politics. Despite the two languages, the audience from different parts of the Commons were held spell-bound and grabbed the souvenirs of cut-up denim Jude and Nikolai handed out at the end.

Sadly, some of the Belarus Free Theatre ensemble could not make it in time for the performance as Commons security held them in an eternal queue. It’s not the police’s fault — they are only obeying orders after all — but surely someone can sort out the impossibility of getting visitors into the Commons? John Whittingdale, Pamela Nash and I sponsored the event and it was a dramatic (yes, that is the right word) evening that told us what we need to know about Europe’s last dictatorship.

What to do now? Everything has been tried. Travel bans. Economic sanctions. Withdrawing ambassadors. Being nice to Lukashenko. Being nasty to Lukashenko. He has to his east Russia under the neo-authoritarian Putin. The last thing Russia’s strongman wants is a fully democratic, Russian-speaking nation on his border. Minsk and Moscow quarrel but sadly as with Mugabe, Burmese generals, octogenarian Castro hermanos, there are some regimes that just go on and on. We can simply bear witness and show solidarity and Jude Law and the Belarus Free Theatre did that wonderfully in the Commons. But Lukashenko should ponder the fate of his fellow ex-Soviet era leader, Leonid Kuchma, who was booted out of power in Kiev during Ukraine’s Orange revolution in 2005. In 2000, the body of the Ukrainian journalist, Georgiy Gonadze was found a few hundred metres from his head. The political murder was meant to intimidate other investigative reporters highlighting the corruption of the Kuchma regime. Last month Leonid Kuchma went on trial, protesting his innocence, in connection with the Gonadze murder. So justice can catch up and one day the Berlarus Free Theatre will invite Jude Law to perform in Minsk.

Denis MacShane is MP for Rotherham and was a PPS and Minister at the FCO 1997-2005.

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The British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard yesterday dedicated a special commendation to prisoners of conscience in Belarus. Members of the Belarus Free Theatre collected the award at the 11th annual Freedom of Expression Awards.

The special award was dedicated to all the prisoners of conscience who have been detained because they exercised their right to free expression in criticising President Lukashenko.

“This Index on Censorship award is all the more important as the figure of prisoner of conscience should have been consigned to history,” Sir Tom Stoppard said. “Yet in Europe in 2011 there are 42 prisoners of conscience held by the government of Belarus.”

Interviewed by Evan Davis on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Sir Tom Stoppard described the Belarusian regime as an “anomaly”.

“It’s a way of dictatorship which has been consigned in history in Europe except in this one place and the Index on Censorship awards … are acknowledging these Belarusian victims of what is now an iron fist in an iron glove.”

Natalia Koliada, the co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre, was one of those arrested and gave an emotional acceptance speech at last night’s awards, paying tribute to Oleg Bebenin, a Charter 97 journalist found dead in suspicious circumstances. Irina Bogdanova, sister of imprisoned presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, said “together we will win”, repeating a Sannikov slogan.

On 19 December, the night of the presidential elections in Belarus, a large demonstration was held in Independence Square in Minsk. The protest was dispersed violently, with the arrest of around 700 people. Those held were treated appallingly.

Natalia Koliada was one of those arrested. The Free Theatre had performed at an event organised by Index on Censorship just two weeks previously at the Young Vic. Whilst Koliada was in prison, guards made vile threats: “You are animals. We want to kill you. Our dream is to kill you.”

Those detained were not held in cells, but had to stand in freezing prison corridors. All the prisoners had biometric photographs taken and were fingerprinted and filmed.

Ales Mikhalevich, one of seven presidential candidates who was detained, has subsequently made allegations of torture. In total, 42 people face criminal prosecutions for organising a “mass disturbance”. The charges carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years. With so many presidential candidates amongst those charged, it is likely there is a political motive behind the charges.

• Also see the Independent’s recent report on Belarus Free Theatre at this link.

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The Belarus Free Theatre is a high-profile thorn in the side of Alyaksandr Lukaskenko’s authoritarian regime. On 5 December, Index on Censorship hosted a double-bill performance by the Free Theatre at the Young Vic with guest appearances from Sir Ian McKellen, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Samuel West and Adjoa Andoh. Koliada speculated that arresting Khalezin may be an attempt by the authorities to stop a forthcoming performance in New York.

Khalezin is not just a cultural figure in Belarus. Before founding the Belarus Free Theatre with his wife, he was a renowned journalist. He was sacked from various newspapers for articles criticising the authoritarian leadership of President Lukashenko. Whilst a journalist, Khalezin mentored Natalia Radzina and Oleg Bebenin. Bebenin, a civil society activist, was found dead in suspicious circumstances just three months before the elections. Khalezin conducted the wake which brought together many from the opposition in Belarus including presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov and former President Stanislav Shushkevich. Radzina, the editor of the Charter97 website faces up to 15 years in prison after she was charged with organising a mass riot under Article 293 of the criminal code.

There are fears that Nikolai may be subject to the same charges brought against Radzina and other opposition activists. Charter97 report she has only just met with a lawyer, who saw blood dripping from her ears. Radzina was beaten by police prior to her arrest. Twenty three people are currently being detained by the KGB under Article 293 of the Belarusian Criminal Code; Charter97′s entire editorial team are in detention alongside presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov and Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu (the President of Belarusian PEN). You can see the full list of those detained here.

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5 December 2010

“When people are being kidnapped and killed, then you have to take action to change things in your country” (Natalia Koliada, co-founder of Belarus Free Theatre).

Index on Censorship presents the internationally acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre (Being Harold Pinter/ Generation Jeans, Soho) at the Young Vic performing the UK premiere of Discover Love with guest appearances by famous names including Jude Law, Ian McKellen and Samuel West.

This double bill event, which includes their hard-hitting piece Numbers, takes place just two weeks before the Belarusian presidential election on 19 December. Under the oppressive rule of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus is one of the world’s least free countries; ranked worse than Iran for press freedom and worse than Zimbabwe for human rights.

Belarus Free Theatre stages underground and uncensored performances to draw attention to the problems faced in Europe’s last dictatorship. Although banned in their home country where they perform in secrecy, this multi awardwinning company has established a global reputation of artistic excellence. Their many supporters and patrons include Tom Stoppard, Mick Jagger and Václav Havel.

The last few months have been particularly difficult for BFT with the suspicious death of their close friend and partner, respected journalist Oleg Bebenin — a case that has received widespread international attention. Members of the company have also received death threats and been imprisoned.

This one-off event at the Young Vic is part of Index on Censorship’s campaign to highlight the appalling state of free expression in Belarus and a show of solidarity for BFT from the UK arts community. Prominent arts figures across the country have united by signing a petition calling upon the President of Belarus to respect fundamental human rights and abolish these repressive laws. Signatories include Jeremy Irons, Hanif Kureishi, Juliet
Stevenson, Michael Sheen, Katie Mitchell, Neil Tennant, David Lan, Michael Attenborough, Dominic Cooke, Alistair Spalding, Stephen Daldry, Neil Bartlett, Paul Greengrass, Eve Best, Sean Holmes, Michael Morris, Dominic Dromgoole, Ramin Gray, Mark Rubinstein, Daniel Evans, Carrie Cracknell and Natalie Abrahami.

At the Young Vic, BFT will present Discover Love, the powerful and moving love story of Irina Krasovskaya and her husband Anatoli Krasovsky, a supporter of the Belarusian democratic forces who was abducted and disappeared in Belarus in 1999. Numbers is a startling piece using physicality, sound and projections to illustrate statistics detailing the bleak reality of Lukashenko’s oppressive regime.

For tickets and information click here or call +44 (0) 20 7922 2922

The post PAST EVENT: Index on Censorship and the Young Vic present “Belarus: Zone of Silence” appeared first on Index on Censorship.

Award-winning playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who has long associations with both Index on Censorship and the Belarus Free Theatre, introduced the evening:

Now watch

Video: Natalia Koliada on surviving in Europe’s last dictatorship

Video: Belarus Free Theatre perform Numbers

The post Sir Tom Stoppard presents… Belarus Free Theatre appeared first on Index on Censorship.

The easiest way for me to describe the situation in Belarus is to ask you to imagine… Just imagine, you sit in the evening, you talk to your friend….the next day that friend is kidnapped and killed. It was my husband and his friend Dmitry Zavadsky. They sat and discussed their lives, their wives and their children but the next day he was dead

Now watch

Video: Belarus Free Theatre perform Numbers

Video: Sir Tom Stoppard presents… Belarus Free Theatre

The post Natalia Koliada on surviving in Europe’s last dictatorship appeared first on Index on Censorship.