In August last year, a street concert by the singer Meriem Gerasimenko took place on the terrace of one of the Minsk bars. During the concert, the girl sang the song “Hugs” by the band “Ocean Elsa” in support of Ukraine. What was she detained for? Last week, the court of Minsk announced the sentence to the young girl.
Live morning show “Breakfast with 1+1” Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the frontman of the Okean Elsa band, commented on this situation.
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Meriem Gerasimenko was sentenced to three years of “home chemistry”. This is a mix of mandatory forced labor and serving a suspended sentence, when the convict is at home, but under the constant watchful control of law enforcement agencies. Meriem cannot leave the house at night, visit entertainment facilities, drink alcohol and leave the settlement without permission.
“In this case, these are typical repressive methods. I am very sorry for this beautiful girl, who, I hope, will find the strength and pass this test with dignity. I would like to wish her and all others, absolutely illegally convicted, or those who are awaiting trial, strength and stability. We certainly support them morally in this”– said Vakarchuk.
Initially, the reason for Gerasimenko’s detention was her performance of a Ukrainian song. Then the girl began to be accused of the fact that the young singer had tipped off the Ukrainian army.
“I can’t understand why attacking the Ukrainian army is called a violation of public order. This is a completely different world, from which, thank God, we Ukrainians left in 1991 and will definitely never return. We are now paying the price of terrible sacrifices in order not to return to this terrible horror in which Belarus and Russia are now.”Vakarchuk concluded.
