“On the street by candlelight:” Kyiv activists read a banned book about Stus

On Tuesday evening, October 20, activists held a "candlelight reading" of Vakhtang Kipiani's book "The Case of Vasyl Stus" in the center of Kyiv. Earlier, the court had banned the book's distributing.

Reading aloud in Kyiv took place on Volodymyrska Street.

The civic movement Vidsich organized the demonstration to support the book, reacting to the decision of the Darnytsia district court, which partially satisfied the lawsuit of Viktor Medvedchuk to Vakhtang Kipiani and Vivat publishing house on October 19.

The coordinators invited everyone to take the forbidden book and come to the Pechersk district court building in Kyiv at 19:30 "with blankets, mats, tea/coffee, and candles." The court on 5 Volodymyrska is the "most honest Ukrainian court" and "heir" of the court where Stus was convicted 30 years ago."

According to the organizers, the readings' format should remind the society about the Soviet times, "when censorship banned true Ukrainian literature, and it forced people to read at night, secretly, and by candlelight." The promoters stated, "People had the only way of hiding from the repressive machine if they were lucky. Now the Soviet times are back." 

It was held to support the flash mob #SupporttheStusCase and #YouCan'tCondemnAnyone. That way it encourages Ukrainians to buy the book and talk about it.

"We held the demonstration because the court passed a terrible verdict yesterday, the first horrible step towards introducing censorship, which for a long time, Ukraine was fighting with the lives of Ukrainian poets and blood," Kateryna Chapura said.

According to her, with the performance help, the organizers tried to show the absurdity of reading books at night by candlelight and banning books, as in Soviet times.

On October 19, the Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv banned distributing the printed edition of the book "The Case of Vasyl Stus" without Medvedchuk's permission.