Bulgarians Protest Delayed Return of Writer Arrested in Belarus
Diplomacy | July 2, 2011, Saturday // 18:38| views
Bulgarian poet and English-language journalist Dimiter Kenarov. Photo by VQRonline.org
Dozens of friends and relatives gathered Saturday in front of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest what they saw as slow work on the return of Bulgarian writer Dimiter Kenarov, who has been arrested in Belarus.
Just minutes before the start of the protest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published its first official statement on the case, saying it acted as swiftly as possible.
The 30-year-old was detained by Belarusian authorities Wednesday in the city of Mazyr, after failing to present proper travel documents, which he reportedly had lost.
Details on why Kenarov received his temporary passport only Saturday morning, more than 48 hours after his Wednesday arrest, are still not clear.
The statement of the Foreign Ministry reads that it acted "immediately" after being notified of the case, and produced the temporary passport within 48 hours of the arrest, but Belarusian "police authorities refused to allow that the document be delivered on time."
Relatives and firends of Kenarov point out to a number of discrepancies in the information given to them by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including when precisely he was visited by a Bulgarian diplomatic representative in Belarus.
It remains unclear why Kenarov is going to stay under arrest over the weekend given he has all the proper documents to leave, and given he has been visited by the Bulgarian diplomatic represtentative.
Dimiter Kenarov has published travel prose in editions such as The Nation, Esquire, Boston Review, New English Review, among others.
In Bulgaria he has two collections of short poetry published, including the critically acclaimed "Apocryphal Animals."
Saturday peaceful protesters read out excerpts from Kenarov's poetry in front of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sofia.
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