A director from Odessa, who was persecuted for a film critical of Lukashenko, has died

<span><span><span><span><span><span>On July 23, at the age of 78, Yuri Khashchavatsky, a renowned Belarusian film director, screenwriter, and public figure of Ukrainian descent, passed away. The director is best known for his political satire *The Ordinary President* (1996), in which he depicted the rise of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This was reported by Deutsche Welle.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

The film <span><span><span><span><span><span>*The Ordinary President* won the Peace </span></span></span></span></span></span>Prize at the Berlinale, the Human Rights Watch Grand Prize in New York, and the “Golden Gate” Award in San Francisco.

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Among the artist’s other notable works are *Kalinovsky Square*, about the 2006 protests; *Lobotomy*, about Russian aggression against Georgia; and *This Crazy, Crazy, Crazy ‘Russian World’*. In total, he has directed over 30 documentary films that have garnered international recognition. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Because of his work, Yuriy Khashchavatsky has repeatedly faced persecution and even physical attacks by the security services. His films </span></span></span></span></span></span>were officially banned from screening in Belarus.<span><span><span><span><span><span>Despite this, the artist continued his struggle and, during the events of 2020, joined the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition.  </span></span></span></span></span></span>

Meanwhile, on July 18,Valery Malakhov, former rector of the National University “Odessa Polytechnic” and an honorary citizen of Odessa, passed away at the age of 86. He was an Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, an Honored Worker of Public Education of Ukraine, a Doctor of Technical Sciences, and a renowned specialist in the field of technical cybernetics.

Юлія Калабайда