02.02.2009 Pickets in support of "Volnaye Hlybokaye" are banned

Hlybokaye district executive committee refused to authorize the pickets in defense of a non-state newspaper Volnaye Hlybokaye at the town market, where the newspaper is distributed.

21.01.2009 Amnesty International: No positive changes in freedom of speech in Belarus

There were no positive changes in human rights in the last six months in Belarus, the Secretary-General of Amnesty International’s German Section thinks.

Barbara Lochbihler commented on the situation with human rights in Belarus in an interview to Deutsche Welle.

21.01.2009 Major Belarusian tut.by portal introduces censorship for forum content

According to Yury Ziser, manager of Belarus’ largest Internet resource www.tut.by, having over 160,000 users, the so called premoderation will applied to the tut.by forum posts. Mr.Ziser said the new policy will only deal with themed news discussions, and will not affect any other forums active in the framework of the portal.

14.01.2009 Ales Zarembiuk demands that subscription to ‘Hazeta Slonimskaya’ and ‘Novy Chas’ be returned

The member of the For Freedom movement Ales Zarembiuk applied to the director general of the republican unitary enterprise with the proposal to include Hazeta Slonimskaya and Novy Chas into the subscription catalogue. ‘Hazeta Slonimskaya is the only non-state socio-political edition on the territory of Hrodna oblast,’ emphasizes the activist. He calls the authorities not to create artificial obstacles on the newspapers’ way to the readers.

13.01.2009 Should citizens pay money for radio program in mother-tongue?

Dwellers of Baranavichy are trying to make the local authorities permit Belarusian-language program I Love My Land be transmitted by the local radio.

12.01.2009 Ideological department bans ‘Nasha Niva’ advertisement in tube

In December, after the Belarusian authorities agreed to return Nasha Niva to newsstands and to the official subscription catalog, the editorial office of the newspaper applied to the advertisement service of Minsk tube for placing an advertisement there.

08.01.2009 Minsk: printing house refuses to print Borisovskiye Novosti

Since the begging of this year independent social and political newspaper Borisovskiye Novosti has been deprived a possibility to be printed, and to be distributed via its own retail network.

15.12.2008 Minsk: detention for distribution of independent press

On 15 December the police detained the activists of the Young Front Yuliyan Misiukevich and Aliaksei Savinkou for distribution of the Young Front newspapers Svislatskaye Recha and flags with inscriptions ‘Let MTS be in Belarusian!’

15.12.2008 Minsk: celebration of ‘BelSat’ anniversary and ‘Clip Marathon’ are disrupted

On 14 December a festival Clip marathon of Belarusian video clips was to take place in Aquarium club. However, two days before the event its organizers had to cancel it.

12.12.2008 Court justifies ‘Svaboda’

On 12 December Iuye district court held a repeated trial concerning ‘extremist articles’ in August issue of the unregistered newspaper Svaboda. According to the lawyer Pavel Sapelka, who represented the newspaper’s interests at the trial, the court rejected the suit of Ihar Siarheyenka, head of Hrodna oblast KGB department, as no extremist articles have been found in the issue in question.

11.12.2008 Astravets: violation report for distribution of registered newspaper

Officers of Astravets district executive committee (Hrodna oblast) composed a violation report against an opposition activist Ivan Kruk (well-known democratic activist, an organizer of resistance to construction of nuclear power plant in Astravets district).

11.12.2008 Forced subscription to state press continues

The editorial office of Novy Chas newspaper has received a letter with the request to subscribe for 14 state-run newspapers.

09.12.2008 Brest: policemen demand explanations from distributors of ‘Narodnaya Volia’

On 9 December young activists handed for free the issues of the officially registered newspaper Narodnaya Volia for the last two months in Pushkinskaya Street in Brest. In such a way they tried to encourage people to buy the newspaper to buy the newspaper after its return to the newsstands.

09.12.2008 Brest: detentions on the eve of the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

On 9 December at a mini-market in Brest the police detained Valiantsin Lazarenka and Zinaida Mikhniuk, activists of the local independent trade unions. They handed out invitations to the authorized meeting scheduled for 10 December.

05.12.2008 Homel: Kanstantsin Zhukouski is warned for cooperation with ‘BelSat’

Kanstantsin Zhukouski, activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party, has received a letter from the prosecutor’s office of Vetka district. He is warned about unacceptability of cooperation with the Polish TV channel Belsat.