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Compare the actions of the Belarusian authorities with the following section of the Belarusian constitution. (It is also very, very revealing that the constitution is a section of the authoritarian ruler's Web site; not a part of a basic Belarusian national Web site!):
"Article 33. Everyone is guaranteed freedom of thoughts and beliefs and their free expression. No one shall be forced to express one's beliefs or to deny them. No monopolization of the mass media by the State, public associations or individual citizens and no censorship shall be permitted."
Source: Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Section II: The Individual, Society and the State
"A council on morality is being created in the country. It is to study “moral image” of Belarusian book and cinema markets. Even Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin and “Hilter Kaputt!” films can be eliminated by censorship.As said by the secretary of the state-supported Union of Writers of Belarus Ryhor Marchuk, the organisation has nothing in common with Soviet-time censorship, as they say. He noted that the council is to pay attention to books and films which “cause diametrically opposed opinions”.
The council on morality is created as a public organisation. It unites writers, artists, and workers of arts, experts of the Ministry of Culture, Education and Information, the representative of the Union of Belarusian Writers noted.
Practical activities haven’t been started by experts yet, but Ryhor Marchuk gave examples of works they are to focus on: “Blue Salo”, a book by Vladimir Sorokin, and Marius Vaisberg’s comedy “Hitler Kaputt!” which recently was screened in Belarusian cinemas.
“In no way we are comparing our activities with censorship, as in most cases we will analyze works of art which have already been released and entered the market. We will trace all the new works of art, observe reaction of people to the so-called objectionable works, which evoke diametrically opposed opinions, and then acquaint ministries and agencies with the results of our research,” “Narodnaya gazeta” quotes the secretary of the Union of Writers as saying.
The aim of the organisation, Marchuk said, is “preserving high moral ideals the society has”. As said by him, the evaluation of the council is to be given to interested agencies in the form of recommendations to pay attention to “particular extremity of this or that work of art”.
It should be reminded that over the time of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rule in Belarus almost every printed word undergoes censorship. There are no independent TV channels in the country, so films that contradict the views of the regime are not shown. The same concerns books. Not only closing down of almost all independent newspapers has become a sign of destroyed freedom of speech in the country. Books of independent authors are not printed by state publishing houses. Even the People’s Writer of Belarus Vasil Bykau was banned, as he criticized Alyaksandr Lukahsneka’s policies." (Note: Emphasis of this paragraph by Web site editor)
Source: Charter 97, July 8, 2009
"A historian from the Institute of History of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Belarus Yauhen Anishchanka has been turned out of his job. The historian wrote that the Russian Generalissimo Aleksandr Suvorov was a butcher of the Belarusian nation, and Tadeusz Kosciuszko was a hero of the Belarusians, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza informs. 'A Belarusian historian lost his job because of Kosciuszko,' the article states.Yauhen Anishchanka has written 13 books and 370 articles, mostly about the various partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Now he has been identified as a person who is inconsistent with the job of an academician and a research assistant. The reason for that remains confidential.
Anishchanka believes that he was fired because his writings contradict the official ideology of the state. 'The Institute’s administration has always told us that we exist to defend the interests of the president,' Yauhen Anishchanka said. Three years ago, the scholar wanted to defend a doctoral thesis on the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The historian believes that the partitions were a tragedy for the ancestors of modern Belarusians. A Belarusian government commission found his work 'destructive' and he wasn't granted an academic degree.
Independent experts believe that the regime wants to destroy independent Belarusian historiography, but unlike during Soviet times, there are no chances for that happening, Gazeta Wyborcza writes."
Source: Charter 97, 15:52, 06/03/2007
"Prosecutors in Hrodna on 14 February [2002] charged Mikalay Markevich and Pavel Mazheyka with defaming President Lukashenka in articles published in the opposition weekly Pahonya during the 2001 presidential election campaign, Belarusian media reported. In November 2001, the Supreme Court shut down Pahonya after the authorities previously issued two warnings to the weekly (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 November 2001). Pahonya, of which Markevich was editor, wrote about the disappearances of opposition figures in Belarus and allegations that those disappearances were organized by a government-sponsored "death squad." If convicted, Markevich and Mazheyka face up to five years in prison. "I have no illusions about my trial and the verdict I may get. But I made my choice," Markevich told BelaPAN."
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, Compiled by Jan Maksymiuk; February 15, 2002
"Iryna Makavetskaya, a correspondent for the Minsk-based Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta, has received a warning from the Prosecutor-General's Office for her article on police brutality, BelaPAN reported on 7 February. She was accused of "spreading false information, making baseless conclusions, and discrediting the law enforcement and judicial authorities." Makavetskaya told the agency that she reported on how police officers severely beat three young men in Homel in 2000. The father of one of them subsequently sued the officers but they got off with minor sentences. The KGB then accused the man of taking bribes. He was sentenced to five years in prison despite the fact that people who testified against him later confessed that they had given false testimony under pressure. "My article was based on comparison. Policemen who brutally beat innocent people get nonprison sentences, while a man goes to jail for five years for some mythical bribes that were never proven," Makavetskaya commented."
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, Compiled by Jan Maksymiuk; February 8, 2002
"The Shklou District Court (Mahileu Oblast) has fined Alyaksandr Shcharbak, the editor in chief of the independent and unregistered periodical Shklouskiya naviny, BelaPAN reported on 30 January [2002]. In September, law enforcement officers found 300 copies of a fresh issue of Shklouskiya naviny in Shcharbak's house and charged him with violating the media law, which stipulates that the maximum circulation of unregistered publications is 299 copies. Shcharbak is to pay a fine of some $60, while the court also ordered the confiscation of the computer equipment used to prepare the periodical, as well as the destruction of the seized issue."
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, Compiled by Jan Maksymiuk; January 31, 2002
"A district court in Brest on 5 January [2002] sentenced Uladzimir Maley and Henadz Samoylenka to 15 days in jail for their participation in an unauthorized demonstration, BelaPAN reported. Eight other participants were fined some $125 each. On 9 December [2001] in Brest, some 30 persons formed a "chain of indifferent people" to remind the public and authorities about the disappearances of opponents of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime."
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, Compiled by Jan Maksymiuk; January 7, 2002
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