"Official warnings by the State Committee on the Press, which is 'tightly controlled' by the Aleksandr Lukashenko administration, remain the main tool used to control the press in Belarus, says the review. Last year, according to the review, tools for harassing independent journalists ranged from the denial of official information, interference in printing houses, arrests, bullying and street beatings to newer methods like demands that all newspapers be re-registered."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 60; Thursday, March 16, 2000; 8:40 p.m.
"In the opinion of Mr. Surov, this way the authorities took vengeance on him for his book of cartoons featuring members of the Belarusian government. In April, the artist had all the copies of his book confiscated by police and State Security Committee (KGB) officers. He even had criminal charges brought against him, but the charges were soon dropped."
"Mr. Surov says that he will file a complaint about his eviction with a higher court, as well as with Belarusian and European human rights organizations."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 129; Friday, October 29, 1999; 6:10 p.m.
"According to Mr. Belyatsky, the police included Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mikhail Udovikov, who, however, did not introduce himself. The police arrived when the office was being visited by people whose teenaged children died in the May 30 [1999] stampede. The police said that a large gathering had been reported by a resident of a neighboring apartment and they were going to search the office for bombs."
"According to Valentin Stefanovich, the center's legal adviser, the police's visit can hardly be defined as a 'classical search' but there was direct evidence of some elements of a search, although the visitors did not show any warrant. Witnesses say they were shocked that police officers were especially rude to the parents of stampede victims."
"The police seized 'undocumented' office equipment, along with some printed material. According to Mr. Stefanovich, one of the police officers said that the equipment would have been seized even if proper papers had been presented, because 'that's what we have been ordered to do.' Another police officer reportedly warned that a new search might follow within days."
"According to Mr. Belyatsky, the confiscated computers stored information about human rights violations in Belarus in the last several years. Since Mr. Belyatsky is a member of the expert group on human rights that is to advise the opposition's delegation to the OSCE-mediated talks with the government, the data were used for writing a report on human rights practices in Belarus."
"On October 5, according to Mr. Belyatsky, he submitted papers for the equipment to the local police department."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 18; Tuesday, October 5, 1999; 5:00 p.m.
"On September 24, Naviny lost a libel suit to Viktor Sheiman, state secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, and had to close down after it was sentenced to a sizable fine. 'Aleksandr Lukashenko's statement and the events that followed challenge the constitutional principle of independent judiciary and leave no hope that legal cases involving the country's top officials may receive unbiased consideration,' reads the statement."
"The BAJ calls on the government to respect the right of journalists to freely express their opinion. The authors of the statement note that the 'suppression' of Naviny took place at the time of OSCE-mediated government-opposition consultations on the opposition's access to the media. The BAJ expresses surprise that the country's political parties have not reacted to the government's attacks on freedom of speech. The statement also requests that the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus make an unbiased assessment of the Naviny case."
Source: The BelaPAN News Service, No. 15; Monday, October 4, 1999; 8:30 p.m.