(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 6 September 2001 ARTICLE 19 press release: ALL OUT CAMPAIGN TO RE-ELECT LUKASHENKA: NEW REPORT DETAILS AUTHORITIES’ CRACKDOWN ON FREE PRESS ON EVE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, today launches The Mechanics of Repression: Presidential Election Update, a follow-up to our May […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 6 September 2001 ARTICLE 19 press release:
ALL OUT CAMPAIGN TO RE-ELECT LUKASHENKA:
NEW REPORT DETAILS AUTHORITIES’ CRACKDOWN ON FREE PRESS ON EVE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, today launches The Mechanics of Repression: Presidential Election Update, a follow-up to our May 2001 report (1) on freedom of expression surrounding the October 2000 parliamentary elections. On the eve of the 9 September presidential elections, this report exposes a full-scale state-sponsored assault on independent voices in the country in order to guarantee re-election for the incumbent, Alexander Lukashenka.
“We have a very fair policy concerning non-state media during the election campaign, but if such publications carry on printing inaccurate information, they will be shut down.” (2)
This remark by the Chair of the State Press Committee betrays the Belarusian government’s blatant disregard for the basic principles of press freedom. Since the publication of our May report, the pattern of media repression has intensified with non-state newspapers subject to repeated tax and financial inspections, warnings, thefts of essential equipment and seizure of their copy.
In light of emerging sordid allegations of state involvement in the abduction and murder of three leading opposition activists, plus the journalist Dmitri Zavadsky, the government’s campaign against the non-state media appears aimed at suppressing the truth.
In an example of the direct role of censorship the government now plays, on 27 August, authorities moved swiftly to install a State Press Committee official as acting director at Magic, the last remaining non-state printing press. The effect was immediate: on 28 August, 40,000 copies of a special issue of Rabochi were seized and the editor, Viktor Ivashkevich, was charged with slander; the article had featured allegations of corruption against the president. On 31 August, Magic printed a special edition of the independent newspaper Predprinimatelskaya Gazeta, with two blank sections.
There is no doubt that the state-sponsored campaign against the non-state press coupled with severely limited access of opposition candidates to state-owned media has failed to meet minimum democratic standards in an election.
“The government of Belarus demonstrates complete contempt for its own people in the way it censors news and stifles dissent. The international community must be united in condemning Belarus’ abject failure to adhere to basic freedom of expression norms and must press the Belarusian government radically to improve its record,” said Andrew Puddephatt, ARTICLE 19’s Executive Director.
Notes for Editors
1 The report The Mechanics of Repression: Presidential Election update is on ARTICLE 19’s website at http://www.article19.by/publications/repressionupdate/index.html (English) and http://www.article19.by/publications/mechanicsupdate/index.html (Russian).
2 Mikhail Podgainy, Chair, State Committee on the Press, 23 August 2001, cited by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline, an electronic news bulletin, 24 August 2001.
