You're reading: RFE/RL: ‘Very high-level’ Belarusian authorities reversed ban on Ukrainian author

RFE/RL: ‘Very high-level’ Belarusian authorities reversed ban on Ukrainian author

Published Feb. 13, 2017 at 4:03 pm

Serhiy Zhadan, an acclaimed novelist and poet who traveled to Minsk for a literary event, said on February 11 that he had been taken into custody by KGB officers who burst into his hotel room, kept in a cell overnight, and ordered to leave the country.

Photo by facebook.com/sergiyzhadan

MINSK – A Belarusian official says an order requiring Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan to leave the country and barring him from entry was rescinded after high-level officials intervened.

Zhadan, an acclaimed novelist and poet who traveled to Minsk for a literary event, said on Feb. 11 that he had been taken into custody by KGB officers who burst into his hotel room, kept in a cell overnight, and ordered to leave the country.