July 29, 1999
His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus Republic
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the alarming number of recent defamation cases filed against independent newspapers in Belarus, and by the ongoing harassment of journalists there.
In recent months Your Excellency’s government has pursued a press policy that is clearly designed to put independent media out of business by using criminal defamation statutes and manipulating civil libel law. CPJ views the latter practice as financial blackmail intended to bankrupt publications and individual journalists who dare to criticize government officials.
On July 26, a Minsk court ordered the independent newspaper Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta to pay 2.1 billion Belarusian rubles (US$7,900) to Judge Nadzeya Chmara in compensation for “moral damages” allegedly inflicted on her by the newspaper . The court also ordered staff reporter Viktor Martynovych to pay Judge Chmara 100 million Belarusian rubles (US$500) in damages for his allegedly biased coverage of the politically-charged corruption trial of Vasil Starovoytau, director of the collective farm Rassvet, over which she presided. In a series of articles, Martynovych attempted to prove that Judge Chmara had followed government orders in issuing her guilty verdict against Staravoytau.
Although Martynovych stood accused of overall bias in his reports, prosecutors could prove only that the journalist had mistakenly claimed Judge Chmara had no computer in the court when she drafted her judgement against Staravoytau. The newspaper’s staff say the fines are unprecedented and financially crippling given the current economic climate in Belarus, where most journalists earn less than $100 per month. Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta plans to appeal the decision.
In a similar case decided on July 22, a court in the town of Gomel ordered journalist Irina Makavetskaya to pay nearly 100 million Belarusian rubles (US$500) to Victor Mayuchy, head of the regional television station, on the grounds that she had defamed him in an article published in the newspaper Gomelskaya Dumka. A correspondent for the independent Belapan news agency and a regular contributor to Gomelskaya Dumka, Makavetskaya had alleged that the television director sold commercial television spots to a religious group in the city and then presented the reports as actual news. The court ruled that the station director had violated no laws. Makavetskaya plans to appeal the decision.
That same morning, police arrested Irina Khalip, editor of the independent newspaper Imya, and confiscated her office computer. (Khalip had already been detained and released the previous evening after a peaceful rally outside the headquarters of the Belarusian Popular Front in Minsk.) As Your Excellency is aware, the government of Belarus has repeatedly harassed Imya and its staff members for their work. This is the third defamation case brought against the paper in the past year. This time Khalip was criminally charged with having libeled Oleg Bozhelko, the Belarusian Prosecutor General, by accusing him of a cover-up in the case of a local entrepreneur who had been arrested on corruption charges in June.
Following Khalip’s arrest the police searched her apartment and confiscated her travel documents. Khalip was released late that night, after a long day of threats and interrogation. Police returned her documents in time for her scheduled July 24 departure to the United States for a three-week training seminar organized by the United States Information Agency (USIA).
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending the rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ condemns your government’s crude attempts to silence journalists who attempt to provide the public with alternative views on the political situation in Belarus.
We would like to remind Your Excellency of your obligations under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Your failure to uphold these universally recognized principles has led to Belarus’ isolation from the international community.
Because we believe that no journalist should ever be jailed for what he or she writes, we reject all prosecutions based on criminal defamation statutes. And while we accept the necessity of civil remedies, we believe that your government has manipulated the judicial process to silence journalists for investigating corruption or scrutinizing public officials. CPJ strongly urges you to use the powers of your office to end this orchestrated harassment and to punish those deemed responsible. We further ask that all journalists in Belarus be allowed to practice their profession without fear of reprisal.
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. 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 Republic
House of Government
Minsk, Belarus 220020
VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25