Protest mot Tarja Turunens konsert i Hviterussland

Tarja Turunen. Foto: Eugenio Mazzinghi

Vår blogg har skrevet et brev til Tarjas manager der vi ber henne om å avlyse konserten i Hviterussland på grunn av de gjentatte grove brudd på menneskerettigheter og de eksisterende politiske fangene i landet.

Dear Marcelo Cabuli,

I write to you regarding Tarja’s concert on the March 4th 2012 in Minsk, Belarus. As you probably know, Belarus has for the past year been in the international spotlight several times regarding the last president election on December 19th 2010 and the consequences of it. The dictator Aleksander Lukashenko and his circle of followers falsified the results of the election and several of the other president candidates and demonstrators ended up jailed and were later judged in courts. Some were later released with big fines, while several others, including ex-president candidates were condemned to jail for several years by courts which used false statements, and received later the status of political prisoners. Several of the prisoners tell stories about both physical and mental torture, used against them by KGB, the Belarusian state security – organization. 
A lot of artists and musicians have later been asked to show their support for the political prisoners and the people of Belarus in general by declining to perform in Belarus, among them Shakira, Moby and Deep Purple. 

I will with this letter humbly request that you and Tarja Turunen make the choice of canceling the concert in Minsk, Belarus, and thus show your support for the political prisoners and the people of Belarus, instead of giving off the impression of supporting the dictator Lukashenko. Because you cannot say that a concert does not have anything to do with the dictatorship. The money Tarja will receive for her performance will be bloodstained money from the dictator’s pocket. And by accepting that bloodstained money, she will accept the dictatorship itself. As a huge admirer of Tarja and her talent, I urge you to think about it and hopefully make the right decision.

Yours sincerely,
Freedom for Belarus