H.E. Aleksandr Lukashenko
President
Office of the President
Minsk
Republic of Belarus
Vienna, 2 June 2003
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 115 countries, strongly condemns the recent suspension of the independent daily Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta (BDG).
According to information provided to IPI, on 29 May, the Ministry of Information suspended the publication of the Minsk-based BDG after it failed to heed warnings regarding the publication of so-called “secrets” in the criminal trial of businessman Mikhail Leonov who is apparently a critic of Your Excellency.
The suspension also follows a number of other newspaper articles which have heightened tension between BDG and the government. BDG was recently criticized for an article revealing Your Excellency’s use of state aircraft and for publishing a poll of readers’ attitudes towards the government.
Reacting to BDG’s suspension, Ivan Pashkevich, a member of the parliamentary media commission, described the Ministry of Information’s actions as a “provocation”, particularly as it followed a recent visit by an official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The suspension is not the first time BDG has faced pressure from the Belarusian government. On 6 February 2001, the newspaper was warned by the government after it printed an article titled, “The Blood of Almaz” which reported on the illegal acts of an elite Belarusian military unit. Later in 2001, during the presidential elections, the online version of BGD was blocked and, in September 2002, BDG journalist Irina Halip was told she faced a criminal libel action for her article, “Afghan Hounds” which alleged that the general prosecutor had accepted a bribe in return for closing a corruption case.
Bearing in mind the above, IPI believes that the suspension of the BDG by the Ministry of Information is yet another brazen attempt to silence the independent media in Belarus. Indeed, in recent years, it has become increasingly clear to IPI that Your Excellency’s government refuses to accept the legitimate right of the media in Belarus to report independently.
IPI would remind you that the media have an express right to report in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Therefore, IPI calls on Your Excellency to invite the Ministry of Information to rescind its suspension of BDG forthwith and to allow the media to report free of state interference.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
