Brest Authorities Ban Distribution of Independent Newspaper

According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists

The editorial board of Brestskiy kurier newspaper received an answer from Brest city executive committee to its petition for prolongation of the permission for distribution of the newspaper by public distributors.

In the answer, signed by a deputy chair of the CEC Viachaslau Khafizau it is said that ‘Brest city executive committee doesn’t consider it possible to allow to the editorial office of the newspaper the sale of the latter with the aid of public distributors’.

According to the answer, ‘by its ruling On the system of the informational supply of the population and measures for regulation of retail distribution of periodicals on the territory of the city of 17 March 2005 Brest city executive committee recommended to the editorial offices of Brestskiy vestnik, Brestskaya gazeta, Brestskiy kurier and Iz ruk v ruki to control the public distributors who sell the editions the sale of which is approved by the CEC and also prohibited them to sell the newspapers on the roads’.

‘I have several questions concerning this answer’, commented the chief editor of Brestskiy kurier Mikalai Aliaksandrau. ‘The letter doesn’t have any concrete pretensions or questions. I don’t understand which recommendations we failed to execute, as we haven’t received any rulings, warnings or pretensions concerning the sale of our newspaper for all 15 years of activity’.