Attacks on the Press 2000: Europe & Central Asia Analysis
POLITICAL REFORMS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, along with the advent of democratic governments in Croatia and Serbia, brightened the security prospects for journalists in Central Europe and the Balkans. In contrast, Russian’s new government imposed press restrictions, and authoritarian regimes entrenched themselves in other countries of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Central Asia, further threatening…
Attacks on the Press 2000: Belarus
PRIOR TO THE OCTOBER 15 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, President Aleksandr Lukashenko cracked down on political dissent in Belarus, including the independent media. Lukashenko, who refused to step down when his term expired in 1999, was expected to maintain his repressive ways in 2001, when the country faces presidential elections. Three months before the election, opposition parties…
Attacks on the Press in 2000: Journalists in Prison
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
Belarus: Missing journalist feared dead; official investigation stalled
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the lack of progress in the investigation into the disappearance of Dmitry Zavadsky, a cameraman with the Russian public television network ORT who has been missing since July 7. Because no group has come forward to take responsibility for Zavadsky’s disappearance over the past six months, we now fear that the journalist may have been killed. The official investigation, which has been carried out in secret, now appears to be stalled.
Six weeks after disappearance, ORT cameraman still missing
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in BELARUS New York, August 11, 2000 –The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed that Belarusian authorities have not yet determined the whereabouts of Dmitry Zavadsky, a cameraman for Russian Public Television (ORT) who disappeared in Minsk on July 7.
Belarus: Authorities harass newspaper for advocating poll boycott
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent confiscation of more than 100,000 copies of the Minsk-based independent weekly Rabochy. On September 13, according to local sources, police confiscated 112,000 copies of a special edition of Rabochy, nearly a third of the total print run, from the Magic publishing house in Minsk. The newspaper, published by the Belarusian Free Trade Union, had urged its readers to participate in the “Boycott-2000” campaign being organized by the opposition prior to the October 15 parliamentary elections. The police claimed that publishing a call to boycott the election was illegal.
Russian Public Television Cameraman Disappears; CPJ Calls for Immediate Search
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in BELARUS New York, July 12, 2000– The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the disappearance on July 7 in Minsk, Belarus of Dmitry Zavadsky, a cameraman for Russian Public Television (ORT). According to local and international sources, Zavadsky has been missing since he…
Belarus: Independent press systematically intimidated
May 25, 2000 His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko President of Belarus Republic Minsk 220020 VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25 Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the continuing pattern of intimidation by federal and local authorities of the independent press in Belarus. Over the past few months, we have monitored many violations of…
Belarus: 35 journalists detained during opposition protests
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the events of Saturday, March 25, when thirty-five journalists were among the hundreds detained in connection with a demonstration held in Minsk to protest your government’s ban on a march that was to have been part of opposition-staged festivities commemorating the 1918 founding of the Belarusian National Republic.
35 JOURNALISTS DETAINED DURING MINSK RALLY
Click here to read CPJ’s protest letter. New York, March 27, 2000 — A total of thirty-five journalists were among the hundreds detained in connection with a demonstration held Saturday March 25 in the Belarus capital, Minsk. The demonstration was held to protest the official ban on a march that was to have been part…