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Belarus Removes Theater Director for Supporting Protests

白俄罗斯解雇支持示威者的剧院院长

By Susan Shand
19 August 2020

Theater director Pavel Latushko saw detainees come out of prison with bruises. The detainees told him of punishment beatings. Angry, he decided to join demonstrations against the Belarus government he once represented.
剧院院长帕维尔·拉图斯科看到被拘留者带着瘀伤从监狱出来。这些被拘留者告诉他受到了惩罚殴打。拉图斯科很生气，他决定参加反对他曾代表的白俄罗斯政府的示威游行。

Latushko used to work for the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. He held a number of jobs, and formerly served as a foreign ministry spokesman.
拉图斯科曾在卢卡申科政府任职。他担任过很多职务，并曾担任外交部发言人。

Since 2019, Latushko has been the head of the Janka Kupala National Theater, the oldest theater in Minsk, the country's capital. But he was dismissed recently because of his decision to break from the government.
自2019年以来，拉图斯科一直担任扬卡·库帕拉国家剧院的院长，这是白俄罗斯首都明斯克最古老的剧院。但是由于他决定与政府决裂，他最近被解雇。

Soon after his removal, the actors at the theater announced their resignations. They decided to stand together with the 47-year-old Latushko.
他被解雇后不久，剧院的演员们宣布辞职。他们决定与47岁的拉图斯科站在一起。

Large anti-government protests have shaken Belarus since Lukashenko was declared the winner of presidential elections on August 9. The president and his supporters say he won 80 percent of the votes, but protestors say the election was rigged. At least two people were killed and thousands more detained by police in the street violence that followed.
自从宣布卢卡申科赢得8月9日的总统选举以来，大规模的反政府抗议活动震动了白俄罗斯。总统及其支持者表示，他赢得了80%的选票。但是抗议者表示，这次选举被操纵。在随后的街头暴力中，至少有两人被杀，还有数千人被警察拘留。

"In the life of every person there comes a line that cannot be crossed," Latushko told Reuters news agency.
拉图斯科对路透社表示：“在每个人的生命中，都有一条无法逾越的界限。”

He added, "That moment came for me when I saw people coming out of prisons, talking about the violence against them...I considered it my moral duty to express my position."
他还表示：“当我看到人们走出监狱，谈到他们受到的暴力，我的这个时刻来临了。我认为表达自己的立场是我的道义责任。”

Latushko was removed from his position as the theater's director after speaking out against the government. Since then the theater has become a flashpoint for the demonstrations.
拉图斯科在出言反对政府后被免除剧院院长一职。从那时起，这家剧院已经成为了这次示威活动的一个亮点。

Red-and-white opposition flags hung from the building this week as hundreds of people gathered nearby with signs critical of the government. Protestors cried "shame" when Culture Minister Yury Bondar arrived to discuss productions for the theater's new season.
本周有数百人携带着批评政府的标语聚集在附近，红白相间的反对派旗帜挂在这栋建筑物上。当文化部长尤里·邦达到场讨论剧院新一季的演出时，抗议者大喊“羞耻”。

Resignation after resignation
接连辞职

Video shared by a local media group showed Bondar inside the theater. The actors shout at him and demand that Latushko be given his job back.
当地媒体分享了邦达在剧院内的视频。演员们对他大喊，要求让拉图斯科复职。

Bondar said the theater should not be turned into a "political club." He added that the government had supported the arts and increased funding since last year. Asked about Latushko, Bondar said that an employer had the right to dismiss an employee.
邦达表示，这家剧院不应该变为一家“政治俱乐部。”他还表示，自去年以来，政府一直在支持艺术，并加大了资助力度。被问到拉图斯科时，邦达表示，雇主有权解雇雇员。

One after another, the actors left a resignation in front of him and shouted "go away." The protesters outside cheered as the actors left the building after offering their resignations.
演员们一个接一个地在他面前辞职，并大喊“走开。”当演员们辞职后离开大楼时，外面的抗议者大声欢呼。

For the actors and their supporters, Latushko's dismissal was a sign of the government's suppression of critics after an election that the opposition says was rigged.
对于这些演员和他们的支持者来说，拉图斯科被免职是政府在反对派声称的一场被操纵的选举之后镇压批评人士的迹象。

Before the vote, police detained opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky on charges of inciting violence. His wife Svetlana offered to serve as a candidate for president. Officially, she won just 10 percent of the vote. Following the elections, she fled the country to neighboring Lithuania.
在选举投票前，警察以煽动暴力罪名逮捕了反对派领导人谢尔盖·笛卡诺夫斯基。他的妻子斯维特拉娜主动提出担任总统候选人。官方称她只赢得了10%的选票。选举之后，她离开该国逃往了邻国立陶宛。

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994. He says the election was fair and that he will not hold another vote.
卢卡申科自1994年以来一直统治白俄罗斯。他说选举是公平的，他不会再举行另一场选举。

I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯。

Words in This Story

bruise – n. the browning or blueing of skin after it is hit

rig – v. to cheat, to make a false outcome inevitable

flashpoint – n. an important and symbolic spot for a cause

shame – n. painful emotion caused by guilt or embarrassment

funding – n. money given to a group or organization

*内容来源51VOA.COM原创翻译，侵删~

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