(CPJ/IFEX) – Maya Klimenkova, a justice for the Supreme Commercial Court of Belarus, ordered the immediate shutdown of “Svaboda”, one of the largest and most popular independent newspapers in the country, during a 25 November 1997 court hearing over charges issued by the State Press Committee that the newspaper had violated the country’s press law. […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Maya Klimenkova, a justice for the Supreme
Commercial Court of Belarus, ordered the immediate shutdown of
“Svaboda”, one of the largest and most popular independent
newspapers in the country, during a 25 November 1997 court
hearing over charges issued by the State Press Committee that the
newspaper had violated the country’s press law. The judge also
cancelled the newspaper’s registration and ordered “Svaboda” to
pay 1 million Belarusian rubles (about US$30) to cover court
expenses.
**Further to IFEX alert of 25 November 1997**
The court ruled that the State Press Committee had acted in
accordance with the Law on the Press and Other Mass Media when it
filed suit against “Svaboda” after issuing four warnings to the
newspaper for alleged press law violations. The judge said she
agreed with the charges and announced her decision only fifteen
minutes after hearing “Svaboda”‘s arguments and its request for a
postponement of the hearing. The newspaper’s attorney argued that
the charges were not commercial in nature and did not fall under
the Supreme Commercial Court’s jurisdiction. He argued that
Article 16 of the press law stated charges of press law
violations could only be considered by a civil court. However,
the judge disagreed, claiming her court had consulted and found
agreement with the Supreme Civil Court on the judgment in the
case.
The State Press Committee issued its first warning to “Svaboda”
in April, claiming the paper had illegally revealed details of a
criminal investigation of Tamara Vinnikova, the former central
bank governor, arrested that month on corruption charges. It was
followed by a second warning in May, when the press committee
accused the paper of inciting violence by publishing a letter by
an armed extremist group in which the group claimed
responsibility for blowing up a section of a pipeline carrying
gas from Russia to Poland. The paper ran the letter as a sidebar
to an investigative article about the incident.
“Svaboda” received its third and fourth warnings two weeks ago.
The press committee charged a reporter with inciting social
discord and hostility between citizens and the government by
reporting on a rally in Minsk where speakers compared the recent
round of arrests in Belarus to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s
purges of 1937. Finally, the body accused “Svaboda” of negatively
portraying the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko
in an article that described the work of a parliamentary
committee investigating the legality of some of the president’s
actions.
Judge Klimenkova is scheduled to file a written argument for her
decision by the end of the week, according to Ihar Hermianchuk,
editor-in-chief of “Svaboda”. The newspaper has one month to file
an appeal.
“Svaboda”‘s editor said all the charges against his newspaper
were “absurd” and unfounded. He said the closure of “Svaboda”,
which averages a circulation of 50,000 copies among its three
issues per week, was meant to serve as a warning to other
independent and opposition publications. Hermianchuk said his
staff of twenty will stay together to produce an Internet
publication, and plans to launch and register a new newspaper if
its court appeal fails.
Recommended Action
Continue to send appeals to authorities:
Justice Maya Klimenkova to close “Svaboda”
President Lukashenko’s administration, represents a gross
interference in the judicial process, and contravenes a number of
Belarusian laws, particularly the press law and the Constitution
alternative sources of information in Belarus, the decision has
also violated the government’s international commitments to the
Helsinki accord, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
and Belarus’s treaty on integration with the Russian Federation
to ensure that the ruling is overturned and that “Svaboda”‘s
constitutionally guaranteed right to seek and impart information
is restored
Appeals To
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President
Minsk 220010, Belarus Republic
Fax: +375 172 23 58 25 / 22 38 72 / 22 32 84Valentin Agolets
Minister of Interior
Minsk, Belarus Republic
Fax: +375 172 23 99 18Aleh Bozhelko
Procurator General
Minsk, Belarus Republic
Fax: +375 172 26 41 66Yury Zakharenka
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minsk, Belarus Republic
Fax: +375 172 26 12 47
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
