October 5, 1999
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by your government's decision to ban nine local publications, many of which had yet to publish their first issue.
On October 4, Viktor Guretsky, director of the State Press Committee's licensing board, canceled the registration of nine Minsk-based publications, claiming they had failed to obtain local authorities' approval for opening their offices, as required under a provision of the country's press law. Guretsky claimed that his committee had hitherto enforced the provision only outside Minsk, adding that the publications concerned have one month to seek the needed authorization and reregister.
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by your government's decision to ban nine local publications, many of which had yet to publish their first issue.
On October 4, Viktor Guretsky, director of the State Press Committee's licensing board, canceled the registration of nine Minsk-based publications, claiming they had failed to obtain local authorities' approval for opening their offices, as required under a provision of the country's press law. Guretsky claimed that his committee had hitherto enforced the provision only outside Minsk, adding that the publications concerned have one month to seek the needed authorization and reregister.
CPJ views this action as the latest assault in your regime's ongoing war against the independent press in Belarus. The story of the newly-registered Nasha Svaboda,one of the banned publications, is a case in point. Editor Pavel Zhuk launched the paper to replace the defunct, thrice-weekly Naviny.On September 29, Zhuk published the last issue of Navinyon borrowed funds, after authorities froze the newspaper's bank accounts and seized its assets in response to a defamation suit filed against the paper by Security Council chief Viktor Sheiman (your government froze Naviny's bank accounts on the same day that Sheiman filed the suit).
Some of the other newspapers banned yesterday include Belorusskiye Novosti,published by the independent Belapan news agency, and Kurier Novogrudskiy.Also among the banned were the journals Politsobesednik,published by the Communist Party of Belarus, and Kurier,owned and edited by Ihar Hermianchuk, the former editor of Svaboda(an earlier incarnation of Naviny).
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists devoted to defending press freedom worldwide, CPJ strongly protests your government's transparently political decision to silence these nine publications. This latest blatant violation of all your international commitments to safeguard press freedom can only further isolate Belarus from the international community. We therefore urge that you immediately end your government's shameful campaign against the independent press in Belarus.
Thank you for your attention. We await your comments.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Belarus
Send a letter to:
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25
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