A petition calling for the dismissal of the artistic director of the Young Theater Andriy Bilous, who is accused of harassment, has gained the required number of votes.
The petition is published on the Kyiv City Council website.
The petition was authored by Victoria Romashko, an actress at the Young Theater. She emphasized that this petition is a forced initiative of citizens who "do not agree that abuse of power, contempt for human dignity, and covering up violations remain unpunished".
She demands that the theater terminate the contract with Bilous based on clause 4.3.15 of the contract — due to loss of trust. Also among the demands is to dismiss the director of the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration Serhii Mykhailovych Anzhiyak — for "deliberate and systematic inaction that prevented a proper response to blatant violations in a subordinate institution".
What is Andriy Bilous accused of?
In late January, one of the students at Karpenko-Kary University Sofia Sapozhnyk 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 reported that they had opened an investigation against Bilous on charges of sexual assault. The same day, the Kyiv City State Administration informed 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".
Bilousʼs suspension from his position at the university lasted until March 14, after which he returned to his position. Bilous says that the Kyiv City State Administration Department of Culture has no legal grounds for suspending or dismissing him from his position.
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