04.05.2009 Belarusian Language Society demands that a Belarusian TV channel be established by autumn

In the beginning of April the head of the Belarusian Language Society Aleh Trusau addressed the head of the presidential administration Uladzimir Makei with the request to establish a Belarusian-language TV channel. According to Mr. Trusau, absence of such a channel deprives the citizens of holistic informational space in their native language. Калі да восені не вырашыцца пытанне пра стварэнне беларускамоўнага дзяржаўнага тэлеканала, Таварыства беларускай мовы імя Францішка Скарыны ў верасні пачне збор подпісаў грамадзян пад адпаведным зваротам да ўлады.

30.04.2009 KGB blames journalists of discrediting Belarus with articles about crisis

KGB officers detained a journalist and warned he must write something positive about the authorities.

Otherwise Ivan roman was threatened with a criminal case for “discrediting the Republic of Belarus”.

Officers of the KGB department for the Hrodna region detained journalist Ivan Roman, member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, in Hrodna yesterday. He is a correspondent of Radio Racyja and an author of Magazyn Polski, published by the Union of Poles of Belarus, unrecognized by the Belarusian authorities. The journalist was given a written warning about responsibility for discrediting Belarus.

21.04.2009 Independent journalist Liubenchuk fined

Judge Yury Harbatouski has found independent journalist Ales Liubenchuk guilty of violing public order and fined him BYR 700,000. Ales Liubenchuk was arrested on 16 April after a trial over Zmitser Khvedaruk as he tried to take picture of a plainclothes policeman. ‘It looks like the police have not had the time to give the same evidence, for their words were completely different. After all, I do not understand how the judge could find me guilty,’ said the journalist after the trial.

20.04.2009 Police seize journalists’ equipment

On 17 April Kletsk town police detained journalist Siarhei Panamarou and his crew and confiscated their video camera. The police refused to state the reasons for the arrest. Neither did they familiarize the journalists with the arrest report. The journalists were arrested on their trip to the town of Kletsk as they were making a report on the destruction of historical and architectural monuments of the region. Siarhei Panamarou thinks the arrest may be tied to his civil activity in the For Freedom movement. According to the BAJ’s press service, Mr.Panamarou has lodged a complaint against the arrest with Kletsk district prosecutor’s office. He considers the incident ‘a classical robbery’ and requests that the prosecutor ‘prosecute the policemen under the Criminal Code.’

17.04.2009 Independent journalist arrested and beaten for taking photos of fire in police department building

Uladzimir Hrydzin, photographer and member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, was detained as he was taking pictures of a fire in the building of Pershamaiski Police Department in Minsk on 16 April. According to the journalist, shortly after he started taking pictures of the burning building he was approached by a plainclothes person and ordered to stop shooting. Then, several other plainclothes persons twisted his arms and took him to the police department where they confiscated the camera and deleted the photos. After that the photographer was released. Mr.Hrydzin says he is going to lodge a complaint against the arrest with Pershamaiski Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute the offenders.

14.04.2009 ‘Bobruysky Kurier’ won’t be sold at postal offices

Babruisk city department of Belposhta (Belarusian Post) postal service enterprise broke the agreement with the non-state newspaper Bobruysky Kurier newspaper, as a result of which it won’t be sold at the local post offices any more.

13.04.2009 Information Ministry rules that ‘Astravetski Vesnik’ must be destroyed

‘The copies of Astravetski Vesnik must be destroyed’, ruled the deputy minister of information Ihar Laptsionak.

07.04.2009 Babruisk: prosecutor’s office refuses to bring a criminal case concerning repressions against ‘Bobruiskiy Kurier’

The prosecutor considered the complaint of Anatol Sanatsenka (chief editor of the non-state newspaper Bobruisky Kurier) and found no corpus delicti in the actions of officers of Babruisk town executive committee.

23.03.2009 Volnaye Hlybokaye independent newspaper denied right to post subscription

Uladzimer Skrabutan, editor-in-chief of the Volnaye Hlybokaye independent newspaper, has received a letter from the administration of the Belposhta state postal enterprise, saying that the newspaper would not be enrolled on the nation-wide subscription list due to ‘inexpediency.’ According to Mr.Skrabutan, the decision was caused by ‘personal unwillingness’ of the Belarusian postal monopoly to make a contract with the disloyal newspaper.

09.03.2009 Assembly of pro-democratic NGOs calls the authorities to stop the abuse of the law On counteraction to extremism

On 6-7 March the 6th assembly of pro-democratic NGOs of Belarus was held at the international educational center (IBB) in Minsk. The aim of the forum was to analyze the situation in the third sector, the juridical situation of NGOs and elaborate and adopt the strategy of the Assembly’s activities for the near future.

04.03.2009 Another warning for ‘BelSat’

The member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists from Homel Aleh Razhkou received by mail an official warning from Homel oblast prosecutor’s office for ‘journalist activities in favor of the Polish satellite TV channel BelSat’.

04.03.2009 Belarusian MFA didn’t register ‘Belsat’ TV channel

The Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Belarus denied registration to Minsk bureau of the Belsat TV channel.

03.03.2009 Belarusian MFA deny accreditation to another journalist of Radio Racyja

The commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on accreditation of foreign mass media refused to accredit Ivan Roman as the correspondent of Radio Racyja in Hrodna.

27.02.2009 Judge orders two issues of cultural magazine seized and destroyed

Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s decision by judge Tatsiana Miranyuk of a district court in the western city of Brest to order the immediate seizure and destruction of the seventh and eighth issues of the opposition cultural magazine Arche on the grounds that their content was “extremist”.

“We are again confronted by an absurd logic,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The administrative and judicial harassment of Arche since its creation in 1997 is a sad reminder of what went on under Soviet domination. It does not bode well for the progress in press freedom we had been hoping for. We express our support for the magazine’s founder, Andrei Dynko, and its editor, Valer Bulhakau, and we urge the judicial authorities to reconsider this decision.”

26.02.2009 Barysau ideologist hinders sale of ‘Borisovskie Novosti’

Barysau ideologist Liudmila Harnak does not let the local entrepreneurs to sell the non-state regional newspaper Borisovskie Novisti.