Forced subscription to state-owned press is practiced in Bialynichy district

Forced subscription to state-owned press is still practiced in the Bialynichy district of the Mahiliou region. In particular, kindergarteners and school teachers complain that officers of the education department of the Bialynichy District Executive Committee insistently “advise” them to subscribe to certain editions and promise trouble to those who refuses to do so.

Subscription to the newspaper of the Presidential Administration, “Sovetskaya Belorussiya”, is obligatory for all school teachers, whereas kindergarteners can subscribe to the magazine “Praleska” instead of it. Moreover, all those working in the sphere of education must obligatory subscribe to the district state-owned newspaper “Zara nad Druttsiu” and a regional state-owned edition (most often – to “Mahiliouskiya Vedamastsi”). Officers of the education department also insistently “recommend” all teachers to subscribe to the newspaper of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, “Yunyi Spasatel”. However, teachers dare speak about it only in private talk – nobody makes any public statements.

Mailmen of the Bialynichy district are also forced to subscribe a certain number of people to “Sovetskaya Belorusiya”. If they fail to do so, they are deprived of the wage bonuses for the three months. That’s why they sometimes even have to subscribe to several copies of this newspaper.