(RSF/IFEX) – A 3 June 2004 government order suspending the opposition weekly “Rabochaya Solidarnost” for three months is the latest step in a “campaign of systematic harassment of the independent and opposition press,” RSF has charged in a letter to Information Minister Vladimir Rusakevich. The paper was suspended for an alleged violation of the press […]
(RSF/IFEX) – A 3 June 2004 government order suspending the opposition weekly “Rabochaya Solidarnost” for three months is the latest step in a “campaign of systematic harassment of the independent and opposition press,” RSF has charged in a letter to Information Minister Vladimir Rusakevich. The paper was suspended for an alleged violation of the press law.
“Once again, the authorities have used utterly spurious grounds to silence one of the few news media that dare to criticise President Lukashenko’s regime,” RSF said.
The information minister suspended the weekly for its alleged failure to inform the authorities of an address change.
The Belarus Union of Automobile and Agricultural Tool Workers (UBOAOA), one of “Rabochaya Solidarnost”‘s founding organisations, severed its links with the newspaper on 12 March. As a result, the newspaper’s co-founder, the Belarus Labour Party (PBT), was legally required to update the newspaper’s registration the following month. The PBT filed the necessary documents with Minsk City Hall on 19 March. Two months later, the authorities responded that the application was still under consideration.
PBT leader Alexandre Bukhvostov, who launched “Rabochaya Solidarnost”, told RSF that the newspaper was the target of official harassment because it had criticised the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus.
