(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenka is attempting to guarantee his position complete protection from public criticism, in word or deed, by amending a number of laws, including the Law on Press, to impose draconian punishments for insults to his reputation. Malcolm Smart, Deputy Director of ARTICLE 19 said: “This is yet another outrageous […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenka is attempting
to guarantee his position complete protection from public criticism, in word
or deed, by amending a number of laws, including the Law on Press, to impose
draconian punishments for insults to his reputation.
Malcolm Smart, Deputy Director of ARTICLE 19 said:
“This is yet another outrageous blow against free speech in Belarus. The
government appears to have a complete intolerance of criticism and disregard
for democratic accountability and is in serious violation of its
international obligations on freedom of expression.”
The new measures would extend an existing law which criminalises defamation
of public officials, to punish anyone deemed to have insulted the president
publicly with up to four years’ imprisonment. They may also be sentence to
up to two years’ corrective labour, or a fine. The prison sentence can be
even longer for the same actions committed ‘repeatedly or with the use of
the press or other means of mass communication’.
In a proposed amendment to another law, anyone carrying placards, banners
etc. ‘the content of which degrades the honour and dignity of the President’
will face substantial fines or ‘administrative arrest from three to fifteen
days and confiscation of these items’.
The proposed measures also revive an amendment to the Law on Press, which in
1997 the government attempted to pass through parliament and then modified
in the face of a domestic and international outcry.
