**New case and updates IFEX alert of 27 March 2000** (RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Guenady Voronpsov, RSF protested the detention of approximately fifteen journalists during a demonstration organised by the opposition in Minsk. RSF believes that these detentions represent the most recent hindrance to the right to inform in the […]
**New case and updates IFEX alert of 27 March 2000**
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Guenady Voronpsov, RSF protested the detention of approximately fifteen journalists during a demonstration organised by the opposition in Minsk. RSF believes that these detentions represent the most recent hindrance to the right to inform in the country. “We call on you to do everything in your power to put an end to violence against the press,” stated Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general. RSF also reminded the minister that Belarus is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and that Article 19 of the Covenant guarantees freedom of expression and information.
According to the information obtained by RSF, on 25 March 2000, security forces detained about fifteen journalists who were covering a demonstration organised by the main opposition party, the Belarussian Popular Front. Amongst the detained journalists were a number of representatives of foreign press, including correspondents with the press agencies AFP, Itar-Tass, a Polish television station, Russian stations NTV, ORT and RTR and the American radio station, Radio Liberty. Detained with 200 other people in a sports arena which had been transformed into a provisional detention centre, the majority of them were released a few hours later at the city’s outskirts.
On 2 March, Ruslan Bitiankov, a correspondent with the independent Belarussian agency Belaplan, Vasili Fedosenko, a photographer with Reuters press agency and Alguerd Neverovski, a correspondent with the American radio station Radio Liberty, were detained during demonstrations protesting the disappearance and imprisonment of members of the opposition.
