Journalist found dead in Belarus; CPJ calls for investigation
New York, September 8, 2010–Belarusian authorities must thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Aleh Byabenin, founder and director of the Minsk-based pro-opposition news website Charter 97, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Byabenin’s brother and several friends found the journalist hanging from a stairway in his summer house outside the capital city of Minsk…
Belarusian authorities strip Sheremet of citizenship
We issued the following statement after learning that Belarusian authorities have stripped Pavel Sheremet, a prominent journalist living in Russia, of his Belarusian citizenship. In an interview today for the independent news Web site Belarussky Partizan, Sheremet said he received a notice about this from the Belarusian embassy in Moscow. Sheremet said the notice did not…
Ruling obstructs Belarusian Association of Journalists
New York, March 23, 2010—The Belarusian Supreme Court has upheld a government order that will obstruct the work of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the country’s most prominent press freedom and media support organization. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the ruling, which was handed down Monday.
In bad company: Kazakhstan takes page from Belarus
Belarus has been termed Europe’s last dictatorship because of its long intolerance of dissent and press freedom. So accustomed is the world to the clampdowns of President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime that neither a recently issued decree on Internet access, which requires that providers record users’ personal data, nor last week’s police raids at a number…
Belarusian police raid news offices in defamation probe
New York, March 16, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns raids conducted today by Minsk police at the offices of the independent news Web site Charter 97, the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya, and the home office of freelance reporter Irina Khalip.
Attacks on the Press 2009: Belarus
Top Developments• Restrictive law requires media obtain government registration.• Administration eases some repressive tactics to gain EU favor. Key Statistic 13: Independent papers blacklisted by state-controlled distributors. Authorities eased their heavy-handed tactics of repression for much of the year even as a restrictive new media law took effect. The change in tone coincided with the European Union’s…
Belarus journalist threatened, warned not to publish
New York, December 10, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Belarusian authorities to prosecute and convict the perpetrators who made death threats against Iryna Khalip, Belarus correspondent for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Belarusian journalist harassed, denied press accreditation
New York, March 5, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Belarusian authorities to renew work credentials for Andrzej Poczobut, a local correspondent for Poland’s largest daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, and to investigate recent harassment of him and his family in the western city of Hrodno. Poczobut’s credentials were pulled after he reported on the policies…
Venezuela proves intolerant to criticism
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…