Belarus

During his weekly television and radio address a year ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez warned that foreigners who criticize him or his administration while visiting the country would be expelled. Chávez ordered officials to scrutinize statements by foreign public figures and deport any outspoken critics. While analysts thought this declaration was yet another instance of the president's charged rhetoric, the expulsion of two Human Rights Watch (HRW) activists from the country on Thursday proved them wrong. 

On Tuesday, CPJ reported that Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko had signed a new media law allowing authorities to further restrict press freedom by controlling what is published on the Internet. Belarus is on CPJ's list of the world's Most Censored Countries.

Journalists are not the only ones denied freedom of expression. "Belarusian Waltz," an upcoming film on the PBS series "POV," tells the story of Alexander Pushkin, a Belarusian performance artist. His avant-garde street theater includes "wheelbarrows of dung, mock patriotic displays, and portraits of condemned Nazi collaborators." They are intended to challenge Lukashenko's power and spark debate among Belarusians. Pushkin's work often results in his being dragged away by police.

BELARUS:

New York, August 5, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled to learn that President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a restrictive new media law, which, according to CPJ research, will allow authorities to further restrict press freedom in Belarus.

The Belarusian parliament—before its adjournment in late June—rushed the bill through in three consecutive readings and passed it to the Constitutional Court for review. According to the local press, the court rubberstamped the bill in July and Lukashenko signed it into law on Monday.

His Excellency Aleksandr Lukashenko
President of Belarus
38, Karl Marx St.
Minsk, 220016
Belarus

Via facsimile: + (017) 226 0610 and (017) 226 3217

Dear Mr. President,

As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you to veto a severely restrictive draft media law, which will further curb press freedom conditions in Belarus. The bill was adopted by the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament on June 28 and now awaits your consideration.

BELARUS:

New York, March 27, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a sudden crackdown by Belarusian authorities against independent journalists in the last few days. Today, the Belarusian Security Service (known as the KGB) raided the offices of independent broadcasters and the apartments of more than a dozen journalists, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported. Two journalists were detained and beaten on Tuesday in a separate incident.

March 6, 2008

His Excellency Aleksandr Lukashenko
President of Belarus
38, Karl Marx St
Minsk, 220016
Belarus

Via facsimile: + 375 (17) 222 0610 and 375(17) 226 0610

Your Excellency,

As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw to your attention your government's selective use of politically motivated civil libel lawsuits against critics. Intolerant officials punish what remains of Belarus' independent media with lawsuits that result in exorbitant fines, further debilitating the outlets. Since 1999, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented such targeted attacks against at least five independent and oppositions newspapers.

BELARUS:

New York, February 25, 2008—The Belarusian Supreme Court has ordered the early release of Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, former deputy editor of the now-shuttered independent newspaper Zgoda, who was sentenced in January to three years in a high-security prison for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006.

Authorities moved aggressively to control the Internet, introducing sweeping new restrictions that allow the government to monitor citizens’ use of the Web. President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s administration continued its practice of suppressing dissent—but paid a price in May when the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) denied Belarus a seat following international criticism of the country’s poor human rights and press freedom record.

New York, January 18, 2008—Minsk City Court in Belarus today imprisoned Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, an editor at the now-shuttered independent weekly Zgoda (Consensus) newspaper, for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. Sdvizhkov was charged with “incitement of religious hatred” and sentenced to three years in a high-security prison.

Sdvizhkov was arrested on November 18 and his trial began on January 11 in Minsk, according to local news reports. He was tried behind closed doors.

New York, January 14, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the detention of one freelance journalist and the interrogation of three others in Minsk, and it calls on Belarusian authorities to halt persecution of the independent press. Arseny Pakhomov, a freelance photographer working for the independent weekly Nasha Niva, was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in prison last week after covering a business protest, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.