Government moves to shut down Belarusian-language publisher

April 21, BPN. The Ministry of Information has requested that Minsk’s Economic Court shut down “one of the most famous popularizers of world literature translations,” Źmicier Kołas’ publishing house, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reports.

The request would be considered by Judge Alaksiej Rusiecki at a hearing on May 2.

Quoting unnamed sources, the BAJ reports that the ministry was irked by a book about the Belarusian-Polish border area in 1939-1941.

In January, a district court in Minsk had labeled the book as extremist, even though it is based on documents from official archives.

Security forces arrested Kołas, and printer Aleh Syčoŭ, last month. Kołas spent 10 days in KGB detention only to be released without charges.

Kołas’ private publishing house is known for printing Belarusian translations of foreign-language fiction, poetry, theater plays, and children’s literature. It put out a popular book series titled “Poets of the Planet.” The 100th book of the series was presented in a Minsk library on the last day of winter.