(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by the alarming number of recent defamation cases filed against independent newspapers in Belarus, and by the ongoing harassment of journalists there. **Updates IFEX alerts of 23 July, 22 July and 21 May 1999** In recent months President Alexander Lukashenko’s government has pursued a press policy that is clearly […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by the alarming number of recent
defamation cases filed against independent newspapers in Belarus, and by the
ongoing harassment of journalists there.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 23 July, 22 July and 21 May 1999**
In recent months President Alexander Lukashenko’s government has pursued a
press policy that is clearly designed to put independent media out of
business by using criminal defamation statutes and manipulating civil libel
law. CPJ views the latter practice as financial blackmail intended to
bankrupt publications and individual journalists who dare to criticise
government officials.
On 26 July 1999, a Minsk court ordered the independent newspaper
“Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” to pay 2.1 billion Belarusian rubles
(US$7,900) to Judge Nadzeya Chmara in compensation for “moral damages”
allegedly inflicted on her by the newspaper. The court also ordered staff
reporter Viktor Martynovych to pay Judge Chmara 100 million Belarusian
rubles (US$500) in damages for his allegedly biased coverage of the
politically-charged corruption trial of Vasil Staravoytau, the former
Central Bank director, over which she presided. In a series of articles,
Martynovych attempted to prove that Judge Chmara had followed government
orders in issuing her guilty verdict against Staravoytau.
Although Martynovych stood accused of overall bias in his reports,
prosecutors could prove only that the journalist had mistakenly claimed
Judge Chmara had no computer in the court when she drafted her judgement
against Staravoytau. The newspaper’s staff say the fines are unprecedented
and financially crippling given the current economic climate in Belarus,
where most journalists earn less than US$100 per month. “Belorusskaya
Delovaya Gazeta” plans to appeal the decision.
In a similar case decided on 22 July, a court in the town of Gomel ordered
journalist Irina Makavetskaya to pay nearly 100 million Belarusian rubles
(US$500) to Victor Mayuchy, head of the regional television station, on the
grounds that she had defamed him in an article published in the newspaper
“Gomelskaya Dumka”. A correspondent for the independent Belapan news agency
and a regular contributor to “Gomelskaya Dumka”, Makavetskaya had alleged
that the television director sold commercial television spots to a religious
group in the city and then presented the reports as actual news. The court
ruled that the station director had violated no laws. Makavetskaya plans to
appeal the decision.
That same morning, police arrested Irina Khalip, editor of the independent
newspaper “Imya”, and confiscated her office computer. (Khalip had already
been detained and released the previous evening after a peaceful rally
outside the headquarters of the Belarusian Popular Front in Minsk.) The
government of Belarus has repeatedly harassed “Imya” and its staff members
for their work. This is the third defamation case brought against the paper
in the past year. This time Khalip was criminally charged with having
libeled Oleg Bozhelko, the Belarusian Prosecutor General, by accusing him of
a cover-up in the case of a local entrepreneur who had been arrested on
corruption charges in June.
Following her arrest the police searched her apartment and confiscated her
travel documents. Khalip was released late that night, after a long day of
threats and interrogation. Police returned her documents in time for her
scheduled 24 July departure to the United States for a three-week training
seminar organized by the United States Information Agency (USIA).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
attempt to provide the public with alternative views on the political
situation in Belarus
Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to
freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information
and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”
principles
has led to Belarus’ isolation from the international community
what
he or she writes, and thus reject all prosecutions based on criminal
defamation statutes
you
believe that his government has manipulated the judicial process to silence
journalists for investigating corruption or scrutinizing public officials
orchestrated harassment and to punish those deemed responsible
their profession without fear of reprisal
Appeals To
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus Republic
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
Fax: +11 375 172 23 58 25
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
