Ministry of Justice to put hand on press cards of International Federation of Journalists

The Belarusian Ministry of Justice wants the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) to explain “the legal ground on which the IFJ operates in the Republic of Belarus” and the grounds on which the BAJ issues press cards of this organization.

These demands were set out in an official letter of April 1 signed by Kirychenka, the head of the department on nonprofit organizations at the Ministry of Justice.

The letter was caused by the recent detention of Aleh Razhkou, a BAJ member, in Homel. Officers of the law-enforcement bodies took his BAJ and IFJ press cards for “document examination”. The journalist got his documents back on March 30, but the Ministry of Justice showed its interest in the international press card.

“The question on IFJ press cards was first raised during the hearing in the Supreme Court on a warning to the BAJ in 2010,” BAJ deputy head Andrei Alyaksandrau recalls. “A representative of the Ministry of Justice said these press cards were issued by the organization that is not registered in Belarus. I remind that BAJ press cards were declared illegal by the court… Another tide of examining press cards continues the old-established policy of the Belarusian authorities aimed at hindering independent media to perform their work and limiting the rights of citizens to distribute and receive information.”

“I’d like to remind that the Venice Commission, with Belarus being an associate member of the Commission, prepared an official opinion on the warning to the BAJ,” BAJ deputy head Andrei Bastunets stressed. “The Commission thinks that the persistent interest the Ministry of Justice demonstrated in relation to BAJ press cards violates a number of articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). As we can see, the Ministry of Justice just does not pay any attention to the opinion of this institution…”