(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced its concern about threats to press freedom in Belarus to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the eve of a visit to Minsk by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s ad hoc working group on Belarus, scheduled from 25 to 28 May 2003. In a letter to the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced its concern about threats to press freedom in Belarus to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the eve of a visit to Minsk by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s ad hoc working group on Belarus, scheduled from 25 to 28 May 2003.
In a letter to the working group’s chairperson, Uta Zapf, RSF highlighted three issues: lack of transparency in the drafting of a new law on the news media, obstacles to the creation and existence of independent publications and the provisions for prison terms for defamation, which led to the detention of three journalists in 2002.
“We urge you, Madam Chairperson, to raise these questions with the parliamentarians and officials you meet during your visit to Belarus,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said.
A new version of the draft “Law on the Press and Other Media,” first submitted in September 2001, was to have been published in March 2003 and debated in Parliament as of 2 April. However, the authorities have refused to release the latest drafts and a parliamentary vote has again been postponed, until the autumn. The lack of transparency in the preparation of this reform is preventing human rights organisations from analysing it and thereby preventing them from issuing any warnings about problems it might cause.
Many independent publications appeared in the years following independence, but today they are increasingly under threat. The creation of new publications, especially in the provinces, as well as the maintenance of existing publications, are hampered by bureaucratic obstacles. At least five newspapers have been temporarily shut down or prevented from appearing under various pretexts as a result of judicial decisions.
On 19 May, a regional court refused to register the new legal address of “Volny Gorad”, thereby preventing the newspaper from being registered. On 24 April, Information Minister Mikhail Podgainy ordered the closure of the independent regional newspaper “Pravinstsyalka” for three months because it changed its legal address and the subjects it writes about without coordinating these changes with the Information Ministry and local authorities.
On 3 February, the court responsible for commercial matters in the Grodno region suspended the commercial licence of Ramuald Ulan, the founder of “Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni”, an independent weekly in the town of Smorgon, thereby forcing the newspaper to close. The executive committee accused Ulan of violating the right to work, tax legislation and fire regulations in 2000 and 2002 (see IFEX alert of 6 February 2003). On 26 November 2002, the Information Ministry invalidated the registration of the independent weekly “Mestnoye Vremya” on the pretext that its new address had not been “legalised”, although the law makes no provision for such a drastic sanction in such circumstances. Launched in early November, the newspaper was only able to publish three issues (see IFEX alert of 2 December 2002).
Finally, the defamation law, which the courts used to sentence three journalists to hard labour in 2002, continues to be used against independent voices, such as Alexander Ignatouk, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Vechernyi Stolin”. Accused of defaming a local official, Vladimir Pashkevich, and thereby preventing him from pursuing his professional activity, Ignatouk faces up to three years in prison.
The sentences of hard labour against Mikolai Markevich, editor of the regional newspaper “Pagonya”, and one of his journalists, Pavel Mazheiko, for insulting the president were lightened in spring 2003, inasmuch as they were allowed to serve their sentences in their home town. But Viktar Ivaskevich, editor of the newspaper “Rabochy”, is still in a labour camp for an article he wrote and published accusing President Lukashenko of corruption (see IFEX alerts of 25 and 7 March 2003, 16 September, 13 and 8 August, 26, 20 and 6 June, 9 and 4 April 2002).
By imprisoning these journalists, the authorities are violating international press freedom standards, which state, “In the case of offences such as ‘libelling’, ‘insulting’ or ‘defaming’ the head of State …, prison terms are both reprehensible and out of proportion to the harm suffered by the victim” (18 January 2000 report of Abid Hussain, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression).
These journalists should be cleared of all charges and Ivaskevich should be freed immediately.
