(WAN/IFEX) – In a 3 May 2000 letter to President Alexander Lukashenko, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed their serious concern at threats made by a Belarussian intelligence officer to journalist Yahor Mayorchyk. According to reports, Mayorchyk, a stringer for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was summoned to a meeting on 28 April with […]
(WAN/IFEX) – In a 3 May 2000 letter to President Alexander Lukashenko, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed their serious concern at threats made by a Belarussian intelligence officer to journalist Yahor Mayorchyk.
According to reports, Mayorchyk, a stringer for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was summoned to a meeting on 28 April with a KGB officer. During the ninety-minute meeting, the officer threatened Mayorchyk that “the same thing will happen to you as to Babitsky” if Mayorchyk refused to co-operate with the intelligence services. The KGB officer was referring to RFE/RL journalist Andrei Babitsky, who was arrested by Russian authorities in Chechnya, held captive for forty days and faces charges in Moscow arising from his journalism (see IFEX alerts of 10, 3 and 1 March, 28, 10, 9, 8, 7, 4, 2 and 1 February, 31 and 28 January 2000).
The officer reportedly offered Mayorchyk a position with the KGB. When Mayorchyk declined, the officer asked whether he had already been recruited by a foreign intelligence service. At the end of the meeting, Mayorchyk was told that he might be summoned to meet with the security services again.
This is the second such act of intimidation against an RFE/RL stringer in Belarus during the past year. In May 1999, Aleh Hruzdzilovich was summoned for a similar interview.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– respectfully reminding him that threatening Mayorchyk in this way constitutes a clear breach of the journalist’s right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the International Declaration of Human Rights, to which Belarus is a signatory
– reminding him that it is the duty of the state to ensure that journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of attack and intimidation
– noting that such incidents foster a climate of fear that inhibits journalistic investigation and can promote self-censorship
– respectfully calling on him to ensure that all threats to Mayorchyk are halted and that the intelligence officers responsible for the harassment are severely disciplined
– urging him to do everything in his power to ensure that all journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of intimidation
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency President Alexander Lukashenko
Presidential Palace
Minsk, Belarus
Fax: +375 17 22 60 610Please copy appeals to WAN.
