Vitsebsk: Uladzimir Ramanovich is deprived of his business because of civil activism
Uladzimir Ramanovich is organizer of numerous campaigns for the creation of
bicycle infrastructure in Vitsebsk, including bicycle lanes and parking lots. Several days ago Siarhei Sliusar, the owner of the premises rented by
Ramanovich for his bicycle hostel, Jazz Hotel,
ordered him to vacate the premises within 10 days.
As he told Mr. Ramanovich, the reasons weren’t just
economical.
“Due to the devaluation of the Belarusian rubles, I started having problems
with paying the rent in time. However, these problems were solved: I paid the
rent not more than a week later after the due time. On 10 June the landlord
told me that I needed to vacate the premises as he already had another tenant.
However, according to the law, he was to have informed me about the breach of
the rent agreement in a month’s advance,’ comments Uladzimir.
As a result of his protests, such a warning was mailed to
him – as late as on 13 June. Thus, the Jazz
hostel can function till 13 July. However, the founder of the hostel is
dissatisfied with such conditions and can have a negative influence on the
image of the “cultural capital of Belarus”.
"The main problem is that the festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar will take place in
Vitsebsk until 16 July and many people have already booked rooms in the hostel and
paid the money for it. The landlord could benefit by
waiting till 18-20 June, because I would get an opportunity to pay the rent in
time in this case. Moreover, the rent agreement expires only in September. However,
he hinted that he had been ordered to break the agreement by some state
officials,” comments Mr. Ramanovich.
Uladzimir Ramanovich is a coordinator of the organizing
committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy. Such well-known members of the
organizing committee as presidential candidate Vital Rymasheuski and his
electioneering agent Pavel Seviarynets used to come to his hostel. He also ran
to for the city council. Recently he has started struggling for creation of the
infrastructure for bicycles in Vitsebsk. The very first action organized by him
– a bicycle rally in the center of Vitsebsk – was dispersed by the road police.
Human Rights
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