Lukashenko to refuse Larissa Geniush’s rehabilitation :: Charter'97 :: News

After Alexander Lukashenko pronounced for reinforcing the idea of Belarusian statehood and development of the national idea, “BHC” turned to him asking to rehabilitate the repressed Belarusian poet Larissa Geniush.

Proving the necessity of the rehabilitation BHC in particular emphasized that Geniush is well-known poet in Belarus and abroad. Her works are full of love towards Belarusian people and country. However they are not accessible for our citizens as the poet was repressed in 1949 and still isn’t rehabilitated. Owing to this fact, Geniush’s poems are no more included in school program; it’s prohibited to carry out official events, in commemoration of her creative works.

During the mass punitive measures at the end of 1937 the patriot Larissa Geniush has been forced to leave Belarus for Prague to her husband where she became the citizen of the Czechoslovakia. On August 20 1948 the USSR government ruled to deprive her of the Czech citizenship and she was by force deported to BSSR. On February 7 1949 she was sentenced to 25 years of corrective labor in the Northern camps of the USSR by the Supreme BSSR court’s verdict. On July, 1 1956 Larissa Geniush was liberated and lived until she died in the settlement of urban type Zelva of Grodno region observed by KGB.

Geniush told the court about her creative work: "Everything I wrote, wasn’t anti-Soviet. I love my people and I wrote about it and only for Belarusian people.”

Taking into account the recent president’s utterances on the national sovereignty BHC hoped to get positive answer that would have been the step to restoration of historical equity and fairness. Lukashenko didn’t answer to this letter and gave it to the Supreme Court. The decision of the Supreme Court has been “ Geniush was recognized not to be subject to rehabilitation.”