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Minsk government's institute to explore possibility of putting up monument to Kastus Kalinowski

 

The Minsk City Executive Committee has announced that its institute for social and economic problems will explore the possibility of putting up a monument to national resistance hero Kastus Kalinowski.

Earlier this summer, activists of an opposition youth organization called Alternatyva (Alternative) collected 3,500 signatures to a petition urging the city authorities to commemorate the 19th-century figure with a monument.

In a reply to the group, Ihar Karpenka, deputy head of the city executive committee, said that a government program did not provide for putting up a monument to Kalinowski in Minsk between 2012 and 2017. However, he added, "given repeated appeals from people over the matter, the institute has been tasked with finding whether the erection of the said monument would be expedient."

In an interview with BelaPAN, Alternatyva leader Aleh Korban said that a final decision on the matter would likely be made by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He said that the group would send a separate petition to the Belarusian leader.

"There's a slight chance that the government will sanction the monument," said Mr. Korban. "We have already received several replies from government agencies and none of them contained a flat rejection."