(RSF/IFEX) – The independent weekly newspaper “Den” is facing the threat of eviction from Grodno, a city near the Polish border, just days after police seized the newspaper’s entire print run. Mikolai Markevich, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Pagonya”, shut down in 2001, took over “Den” after serving 18 months of hard labour for insulting […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The independent weekly newspaper “Den” is facing the threat of eviction from Grodno, a city near the Polish border, just days after police seized the newspaper’s entire print run. Mikolai Markevich, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Pagonya”, shut down in 2001, took over “Den” after serving 18 months of hard labour for insulting President Alexander Lukashenko.
RSF has condemned the harassment of “Den”, which has gone on for several months. The paper has faced repeated obstruction to its publication, from abrupt confiscations to the refusal of local printing companies to work with the newspaper, forcing its publishers to move the printing to neighbouring Russia.
“It appears the authorities have decided at all costs to stop the ‘Pagonya’ team and its editor-in-chief Mikolai Markevich from resuming work, despite the fact that he has already paid heavily for his outspokenness. We call on the authorities to stop their harassment of this newspaper,” said the organisation.
A housing administrative office in Grodno ordered Batskaushchina, the organisation that hosts the “Den” team, to vacate their offices by 15 May 2004. Batskaushchina was accused of illegally subletting office space to the newspaper. Markevich pointed out that the administration has repeatedly denied him the right to officially set up the newspaper in Grodno.
In a related development, police seized 4,800 copies of “Den” in the town of Ivye, approximately 130 kilometres from Grodno. The copies were being transported to Belarus from the printers in Smolensk, Russia. No reason was given for the seizure and the copies remain in the police’s possession.
The seized issue carried an article criticising the police’s refusal to take action against two men who were arrested on 18 March while attempting to break into the Batskaushchyna offices. Markevich recognised one of the men as a KGB officer.
The Minsk-based printing company Svetach illegally broke its contract with the newspaper in November 2003, as did the paper’s distributors, Belsayuzdruk, on 29 January 2004.
On 15 August 2002, Markevich was sentenced to 18 months of hard labour for authorising the publication of articles accusing the president of being implicated in the disappearance of political opponents. The articles appeared in the 4 September 2001 issue of “Pagonya”. The same day, Pavel Mazheiko, who had written an article entitled, “Come and vote”, was sentenced to one year of hard labour. On 13 November 2001, the newspaper was closed.
