Natalia Radzina: Must more Belarusian journalists die before Europe pays attention?
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The Belarusian Prosecutors Office has said that violent interrogation of journalists is legitimate, report Charter 97, Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award nominees.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists wrote an open letter to the Prosecutor in March condemning the use of violent interrogation and beatings of journalists as part of the investigation into an alleged case of slander against the former head of the KGB in the Gomel region, Ivan Korzh. Internet reports alleged that KGB officers had fabricated a case against a police officer, and abused him. In early March, the offices of Charter 97 and European Belarus were raided by the police who confiscated equipment and assaulted staff.
Belarus: The Ministry of Information has refused to register the newspaper Silnye Novosti Gomelya, run by the Pechatnoe Slovo company, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The refusal was justified on the basis that the editor’s qualifications did not meet the Ministry’s requirements. According to the BAJ, at least eight newspapers have been denied registration by the government since the autumn of 2009. The news coincides with reports that a journalist and candidate for the city council in the town of Babruisk was beaten by police for raising the white-red flag of the Belarusian People’s Republic, a symbol of protest against the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. His trial continues.
Last week, pro-government activists held a picket in front of the offices of the opposition “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper over an extract they published from Illya Kopyl’s book Nyabyshyna, which documents activity of Soviet guerillas in the period of Nazi occupation. In other news, Maxim Vunyarski, an activist for the European Belarus movement, is to face trial for participating in a rally for Solidarity Day on March 16.
Italy’s continued investment in Belarus masks the freedom of expression abuses that plague the country’s media. Cecilia Anesi reports
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