Theater director Andriy Bilous, who was previously accused of harassment, was reinstated as director and artistic director of the Young Theater.
This was told to Ukrainska Pravda (UP) by employees of the Young Theater, and Bilous himself confirmed it in a comment to hromadske.
According to the employees, Bilousʼs reinstatement took place at a troupe meeting. The theater employees were addressed by Serhiy Anzhiyak, director of the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City Council.
"He told us that there are conclusions of the commission, he read them. In these conclusions, the commission recommends suspending him, but they see no legal grounds to do so," said choreographer and production designer Nina Zmerzla.
The employee also added that the meeting lasted only 15 minutes, after which the attendees simply left the room.
"We asked if he was really coming back. That is, they came to us to say that despite all the statements, the commission, our conversations with the commission, he was coming back. They told us that he was," she says.
Bilous himself, in a comment to journalists, says that as of March 14, the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration has no legal grounds for suspending or dismissing him from his position.
Hromadske journalists also received a document from the department confirming that the head of the Young Theater was suspended until March 13 at his own request.
Whatʼs happening at Karpenko-Kary University and the Young Theater
In late January, a student at Karpenko-Kary University Sofia Sapozhnik accused her teacher Andriy Bilous of harassment. She first posted an anonymous video with the accusations on January 21, and a few days later revealed her identity.
According to her, Bilous sent her intimate photos of other female students and asked her to send similar ones, "motivating it by saying that everyone had already done it".
Later, other students of the director began to share similar stories. Actor and university graduate Valeriy Filipenko, who was one of the first to start distributing the video with Sapozhnikʼs story, noted that this had long been known in the "theater bubble", but everyone was silent. He called for the distribution of an anonymous form, which can be filled out by all those affected by Bilousʼs actions.
Karpenko-Kary University announced on January 23 that it had filed a complaint with the police, asking law enforcement officers to “verify the disseminated information and provide it with a legal assessment.” On January 27, it became known that Bilous had been suspended from work at the university.
On February 10, the police announced that they had opened an investigation against Bilous on charges of sexual assault. The same day, the Kyiv City State Administration reported that they would remove him from his position at the Young Theater.
Andriy Bilous himself, in a comment to Radio Liberty, rejected the accusations and emphasized that he was open to all inspections in a lawful manner, but did not agree with the fact that "decisions are made not by the court, but on social networks and at rallies".
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