President Aleksander Lukashenko, facing international condemnation for his boldfaced attempts to cling to power, resorted to increasingly crude tactics to rein in his media opponents. On July 20, President Lukashenko lost what little democratic legitimacy he still had when he refused to step down after his five-year term ended. Western countries, including the United States,…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by your government’s decision to ban nine local publications, many of which had yet to publish their first issue. On October 4, Viktor Guretsky, director of the State Press Committee’s licensing board, canceled the registration of nine Minsk-based publications, claiming they had failed to obtain local authorities’ approval for opening their offices, as required under a provision of the country’s press law. Guretsky claimed that his committee had hitherto enforced the provision only outside Minsk, adding that the publications concerned have one month to seek the needed authorization and reregister.
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.
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual identification of the top 10 Enemies of the Press worldwide. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal for the ruthless suppression of journalists. Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria was…
RIGA, Latvia –The Prosecutor General of Latvia on March 26 dropped criminal defamation charges filed in 1992 against Tatyana Chaladze, a journalist living in Latvia at the time, but she will not be freed from jail before April 15, when the court that ordered her jailed will convene to officially take notice of the prosecutor’s…
The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists who have courageously provided independent news coverage and viewpoints in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, and threats of death. The following five journalists will receive the 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in ceremonies…
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual choices of the top 10 Enemies of the Press worldwide. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal for the ruthless suppression of journalists. For the second consecutive year, the…
With his sights set firmly on integration with Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko has intensified his efforts to stifle the independent and opposition media in Belarus. In the days surrounding the April 2 signing in Moscow of the second treaty on integration with Russia in two years, Lukashenko reached new heights, even by his own standards,…