"Strongly recommended" not to bury her in her homeland. Sviatlana Kurs's husband reveals new details about her funeral
Recently, Belarusian media reported that the authorities ignored the requests of Sviatlana Kurs's relatives to help bury her in her homeland. The embassy paid no attention to the family's appeals, and officials were categorically against any public event related to the writer. Sviatlana's husband, Siarhei, told Euroradio even more details.
Sviatlana Kurs's grave. Photo from social media
According to Siarhei, there are two ways to transport a deceased person across the border into Belarus. The first is to transport the body, which requires embassy permission. The second is to transport ashes by a private firm.
"Initially, the idea was to transport the body so that we could say goodbye, and then cremate it in Belarus, as Sveta wanted to be cremated. I called the embassy continuously for two days. No one picked up the phone on any of the numbers. Eventually, I went there. I called at the gate. They said: 'Send emails'."
In addition, Sviatlana Kurs's husband adds, keeping the body in a private morgue and processing documents with apostilles, for which it was almost impossible to get an appointment due to demand, cost significant additional money.
As a result, the family decided to turn to a private firm certified to handle such transportation. For this, only a burial permit from the rural council in Liuban region was needed, which Kurs's parents obtained.
According to Siarhei, the family feared attention from the Belarusian authorities regarding Sviatlana's funeral due to the already voiced reaction of propagandists on television. Moreover, anonymously, Sviatlana's mother received calls "strongly recommending" not to bury her in her homeland.
"But mother wanted to bury Sveta at home so much that she didn't tell us about it. And only later did other relatives tell us. She kept this fact silent, afraid that we wouldn't bring her," says Siarhei. "But the most important thing is that Sveta was buried in her homeland."
Sviatlana Kurs was buried on August 22.