Attacks on the Press 2001: Belarus
President Aleksandr Lukashenko continued his assault on the independent and opposition press in 2001, and he managed to cling to power in September 9 presidential elections amid charges of human rights violations and extensive electoral fraud. Throughout the year, independent publications faced harassment, censorship, seizures, and closures for criticizing the regime. Little progress was made…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Journalists in Prison
There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.
CPJ denounces closure of independent weekly newspaper
New York, November 13, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced a Belarusian High Economic Court decision to shut down the Hrodno-based independent weekly Pahonya. Yesterday the court found Pahonya guilty of insulting President Aleksandr Lukashenko and publishing the statements of an unregistered civic organization, according to local and international press reports. The newspaper had…
CPJ condemns pre-election press freedom abuses
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by your government’s relentless attacks on the independent press during the run-up to the September 9 presidential election. Without the unfettered circulation of ideas and exchange of information, free and democratic elections are not possible. Your recent actions against the press indicate a strong likelihood that next week’s elections will be neither free nor fair.
Officials seize independent-media equipment ahead of presidential election
“[My paper] gives alternative information, and the authorities do not like that,” an editor told CPJ. New York, August 23, 2001—In an ongoing crackdown on the independent press during the run-up to the September 9 presidential elections, Belarusian government officials have seized computers and other office equipment from several publications. Some of the equipment had…
Police confiscate special edition of independent newspaper
New York, August 20, 2001—In the latest crackdown on the independent press before the September 9 presidential election, police from the State Committee for Financial Investigation seized 400,000 copies of the independent triweekly Nasha Svaboda on Friday, August 17, according to local and international sources. The special election issue, which endorsed Vladimir Goncharik, the only…
CPJ monitor denied entry
In addition to state control, CPJ has documented intimidation and direct attacks against the independent media. London, August 8, 2001—The Belarusian embassy in London has denied a visa request by Emma Gray, a UK-based consultant with the Committee to Protect Journalists who intended to monitor press conditions in Belarus in advance of the September 9…
Wife of missing cameraman calls for independent investigation
New York, July 27–The wife of missing Belarusian cameraman Dmitri Zavadsky called on the United States and the international community to establish an independent commission to investigate her husband’s disappearance and other politically motivated deaths and disappearances in Belarus. Svetlana Zavadskaya visited Washington, D.C., for four days in mid-July with a small delegation that included…
ONE YEAR LATER, NO PROGRESS ON MISSING CAMERAMAN INVESTIGATION IN BELARUS
New York, July 6, 2001 On the one-year anniversary of cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky’s disappearance in Minsk, CPJ deplores the fact that Belarusian authorities have made little or no progress investigating the case, despite credible leads that have emerged over the past year. “The absence of concrete progress leads us to suspect that Belarusian authorities…