Supreme Court Finds Illegal Order to Suspend Vremya

On 24 the minister of information Uladzimir Rusakevich signed order #146 to suspend the Vremya newspaper for three months. The formal reason was that the Unitarian enterprise “Publishing House “Vremya” issued two numbers of the newspaper on 12 and 19 August 2004 without having any juridical address. In the issue data it used the former address that was no longer valid at that time, which is a violation of articles 10 and 26 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On press and other mass media”.

We should remind that the newspaper was suspended during the Parliamentary election and the referendum. All in all, twelve newspapers were suspended during that period.

The editorial board complained against the order of the minister to court. After two days of trial judge Arkadz Suslo completely satisfied the suit demands. He found order #146 lawless, ruled to renew the issue of the newspaper and to exact from the defendant all the court expenses of the plaintiffs. The decision came into force in the moment when it was pronounced. It happened before the end of the suspension term. However, the plaintiffs are very glad with such verdict, because two suspensions of an edition for a year result in its obligatory re-registration.

Press-service of Belarusian Association of Journalists