(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 4 August 2002 WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) letter to President Alexander Lukashenka: His Excellency Alexander Lukashenka President of the Republic of Belarus c/o Permanent Representative to UN Email: belarus@un.int 4 August 2002 Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 4 August 2002 WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) letter to President Alexander Lukashenka:
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenka
President of the Republic of Belarus
c/o Permanent Representative to UN
Email: belarus@un.int
4 August 2002
Your Excellency,
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at the bringing of legal action by a state official against the newspaper Nasha Svaboda.
According to reports, on 1 August a court began hearing a case brought by Anatoly Tozik, head of the State Control Committee, who is seeking US$120,000 in damages from Nasha Svaboda and one of its journalists for having reported that he had complained to Your Excellency about general prosecutor Viktor Sheiman. Mr Tozik claims that the story harmed his honour and reputation.
We are concerned that the libel action is a politically motivated manoeuvre intended to force
Nasha Svaboda to close, as it would be unable to pay damages of such magnitude. We respectfully remind you that an award of damages must be ‘reasonable’ and appropriate to the harm caused by any libel that may have been committed. Furthermore, public officials should expect that their actions will be scrutinised more closely than private citizens.
We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that Mr Tozik drops his claim for damages and that Nasha Svaboda is permitted to publish without the threat of punitive court actions. We urge you to ensure that your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely,
<p
Seok Hyun Hong
President
World Association of Newspapers
Gloria Brown Anderson
President
World Editors Forum
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenka
President of the Republic of Belarus
c/o Permanent Representative to UN
E-mail: belarus@un.int
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