Alies Pashkievich, Chair of Union of Writers, and Scholar Aleh Loika Get Fired

Yesterday late in the evening the news came that Alies Pashkievich, an instructor in the philology department of Belarusian State University and the Chair of the Union of Belarusian Writers, and Aleh Loika, a lecturer, the former dean of the philology department and a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Science of Belarus.

Mr. Loika worked part time in the philology department. Alies Pashkievich taught Belarusian literature in the philology department.

It was Alies Pashkievich who told Radio Liberty about his dismissal. According to him, they were fired because they had put their signatures in the Appeal to the Belarusian People printed in the Narodnaya Volia newspaper last Saturday, which declares the creation of the new civil movement Volia Narodu (People's Will).

This information has not been officially confirmed yet.