Freimut Duve: independent newspaper confiscated in Belarus

VIENNA, 21 August 2001 (OSCE) - On 17 August, 400,000 copies of a special issue of the independent Belarus newspaper Nasha Svaboda were confiscated at the private publishing house Magic in Minsk by police from the Committee for Financial Investigation for "inaccuracies in Magic's financial accounts." This confiscated special issue contained information about Vladimir Goncharik, the single democratic opposition candidate in the upcoming elections, as well as some latest public opinion polls.

On 21 August, Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, wrote a letter to Belarus Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov stressing his "great concern" with the seizure of a print run of an independent newspaper. "We have also learned that Nasha Svaboda has received an official warning from the State Press Committee for publishing in the special issue information about a statement allegedly made by President Lukashenko during a meeting with his executive branch. The warning contains a threat to close down the newspaper for three months if the Press Law is violated again. We are aware that the information, which is the apparent basis for this warning, was published quite widely in a variety of media, including in Russia, approximately two weeks ago," stressed Freimut Duve.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media believes that such a blatant violation of freedom of the media in Belarus puts into question the commitment of the Government to hold free and fair elections in September, underlining that equal access to the media was essential for such elections.

"Using alleged financial irregularities of the Magic printing house to confiscate an entire special issue with information on one of the candidates is what I call "structural censorship." Threatening to close down a private newspaper for publishing a statement about the leading politician, President Lukashenko, also does not conform to OSCE standards," noted Duve.

The OSCE Representative called on the Belarus Government to cease its "unending, problematic treatment of the independent press in Belarus", and to release the Nasha Svaboda special issue.

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For further information please contact the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, tel. + 43 1 512 21 45-0, Fax + 43 1 512 21 45-9.