Student fined over ‘self-immolation’ performance

The Court of Minsk’s Centraĺny district has fined Mikhail Kauko 3.6 mln rubles for setting his arms on fire during a performance staged outside the City Hall on December 25. He was found guilty of illegal demonstrating.

Mikhail Kauko is a student of the Fortinbras theater studio, a project run by the Belarus Free Theater group. The performance was said to highlight the problems faced in everyday life by hearing-impaired persons. “We will be burning – they won’t care”, said a poster he was displaying during the event, which implied that such individuals cannot themselves call an ambulance in case of emergency.

On December 24, Fortinbras activists were joined by several wheelchair-users to stage an event, which blocked one of the city’s main thoroughfares, Praspiekt Pieramožcaŭ.