Some Recent Major Examples of Censorship in Belarus: 2001

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Note: The following examples are a very, very limited selection of the acts of censorship and related information access violations committed within the Republic of Belarus. Sad to say, the frequency and number of such events preclude my being able to keep the record of them up-to-date on this Web site!

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Some Recent Major Examples of Censorship in Belarus: 2001

• See Report, Article 19 Organization Reports to UN of Human Rights Violations in Belarus     (April 6, 2001)
  Report about censorship of media, specifically Article 19   (in Belarusian: Article 19)   of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and other human rights violations in Belarus.

• News Article: CPJ Denounces Closure of Independent Weekly Newspaper
  "New York, November 13, 2001.     The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced a Belarusian High Economic Court decision to shut down the Hrodno-based independent weekly Pahonya. Yesterday the court found Pahonya guilty of insulting President Aleksandr Lukashenko and publishing the statements of an unregistered civic organization, according to local and international press reports. The newspaper had received two prior warnings in relation to these charges. Pahonya received the first warning on November 17, 2000, and the second warning in early September, 2000."

  Source: Charter 97 News, November 14, 2001

• News Article: Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) Office Burgled Again
  "Overnight March 28-29 [2001] unidentified burglars broke into the office of the Minsk branch of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC). The thieves stole computer database on election monitoring and human rights records over the past five years. Though there was lots of expensive hardware in the office, the burglars didn't touch any of it. That was the third attack on the BHC office in the last four years: the first one occurred in spring 1996, the second - in fall 1999. Both crimes have never been solved and both were carried out under the same pattern - the burglars took away only the computer databases."

  "According to Tatsyana Protska, BHC Chair, the criminals felt themselves at ease - they turned on lights in all rooms and walked in the offices during half a night banging cabinet doors."

  "A day before the robbery all telephones in the BHC central headquarters stopped working. An employee of the headquarters says: "Something strange happened to our telephones. There was some noise on the lines. We called the telephone station and they promised to fix it within one day, but they didn't. Today the telephones don't work at all. We can't call, send a fax, connect to Internet or send an e-mail. We are in full information blockade"."

  Source: Radio Racyja Online, April 1, 2001

• News Article: Magic Ceased Publishing Independent Newspapers
  "Independent newspapers Nasha Svaboda, Narodnaya Volya, Rabochy, and a dozen other non-state editions, which used to get published in the private press Magic, will no longer be published there. March 12 [2001] the leadership of the Minsk firm Znamenye from which Magic leased the printing machine, abrogated its contract with the publishing house."

  "After the Supreme Economic Court ruled to seize Magic's machine on January 9 [2001] (to cover the alleged indebtedness of the Belarusian Soros Foundation), the newspapers were published with the second machine, belonging to the Znamenye company, which signed an agreement on equipment rent with Magic. The official letter reads that the agreement will be annulled upon the initiative of the Znamenye company on March 12, 2001. The firm's director Vladimir Dashuk said that otherwise the owners of the printing equipment would run the danger of persecution."

  "Some editions have already found a new place for publishing. Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta signed an agreement with the Red Star publishing house. Other periodicals, Nasha Svaboda included, will most likely be published there too. New issues are expected later this week."

  "Yury Budzko, director of independent Magic printing house, believes that Uladzimer Dashuk, the owner of Znamenye is simply afraid of printing independent publications. Mr. Dashuk denies this allegation, saying that there is no political background behind this development and that the contract was terminated due to financial reasons."

  Source: Radio Racyja Online, March 13, 2001

• News Article: Independent Newspaper Fined
  "Syarhey Nyarouny, Editor-in-Chief of a local independent newspaper Volny Gorad (Free Town), was fined 50 minimum salaries for 'violating the order of entrepreneural activities'. The court ruled to confiscate the arrested newspaper printout, but didn't dare to ceize the office equipment, belonging to the U.S. government."

  "The Free Town journalists are not going to pay any fines. Instead, they are determined to appeal to higher courts. Human rights activists and representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) are optimistic that the court resolution can be overruled."

  "Syarhey Nyarouny says that the newspaper is still published despite the persecution. According to Nyarouny, even policemen in court asked him where they could buy and read the independent newspaper. "

  Source: Radio Racyja Online, March 5, 2001

• News Article: BAJ Proposes Improvements to Media Law
  "Head of the State Committee for Print Mikhail Padgainy asked the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) to comment on the problems, contradictions, and drawbacks of the current Law on Press and other mass media. In response, BAJ lawyers came up with their comments as well as proposals to improve media legislation."

  "BAJ notes that all recent amendments to the Law on press have only resulted in restrictions of the freedom of speech, so it is mainly these amendments that have to be changed."

  "The lawyers mentioned amendments to Article 5, stipulating responsibility for offending the president and prohibiting to distribute information on behalf of unregistered NGOs, political parties, and trade unions."

  "BAJ also proposed to abolish the requirement to approve placement of mass media offices with local authorities, stressing that several independent newspapers have recently been denied this permission."

  "BAJ lawyers proposed to limit to one year the limitation period for honor and dignity suits against mass media. Today the limitation period is not limited."

  "The BAJ Center for Legal Protection of Mass Media has proposed to the State Committee for Print a whole concept of reforming media law. Naturally, this concept is developed for a different political situation in the country. The new Law on Press is due to be adopted next year, and a lot can change by then, BAJ experts believe."

  Source: Radio Racyja Online, February 20, 2001

  
  

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