H.E. Aleksandr Lukashenko
President
Office of the President
220010 Minsk
Minsk oblast
Belarus
Vienna, 16 October 2000
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global organisation of editors and media executives, strongly condemns the recent action by the authorities against an independent publishing house.
According to the information before IPI, on 13 October the government threatened to seize the printing presses of the Magic Publishing House. Reportedly, the action was initiated due to an alleged failure to pay back-taxes by Magic’s benefactor, the Soros Foundation. However, this is merely the latest incident in a series of arbitrary actions by the authorities against the independent publishing house. On 13 September, the company’s offices were raided, and owner and president Yuriy Budko was charged with “propagandising an electoral boycott”. During the raid, copies of the independent newspaper Rabochy were seized and its editor, Viktar Ivashkevich, arrested. In addition, Magic’s bank accounts were frozen on 11 October.
The threat to confiscate Magic’s property is deeply troubling in light of the overall situation of the press in Belarus, and especially since it occurred prior to the 15 October parliamentary elections, which were widely regarded as unfair. The media coverage in the run up to the elections was heavily biased in favour of the incumbent government. For example, state-owned newspapers devoted 72 per cent and state-controlled TV 55 per cent of their political coverage to Your Excellency’s party. In comparison, opposition candidates were given five minutes of free air time, which is insufficient to properly inform the public of their respective political programmes.
Furthermore, the opposition were often subject to negative coverage by state-controlled media which dominate both print and electronic sectors and is the only media that operate nation-wide. In a statement, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that the elections failed to meet international standards, citing, inter alia, restrictions imposed on freedom of expression.
Public debate lies at the core in any democratic society; a free media is imperative to the democratic process. Thus the violations mentioned above are in direct contradiction to internationally accepted standards and Your Excellency’s expressed commitment that the elections would “meet the requirements of the highest OSCE standards”.
It is IPI’s belief that the actions taken against the Magic Publishing House are in gross violation of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Therefore, we urge your excellency to release Magic’s bank accounts and to ensure that any order to seize its equipment is repealed. Furthermore, we urge Your Excellency to ensure that all media outlets, including the independent press, are allowed to report freely on developments in Belarus.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
