Editor of the independent newspaper will be judged for the article “Bondmen”

Editor and publisher of Krychau independent weekly summoned to court.

Siarhei Niarouny, editor of the independent weekly “Vonly Horad” (“Free Town”), together with the newspaper’s publisher Uladzimir Kudrautsau, have been summoned to Krychau District Court as defendants in the suit for protection of goodwill lodged by the Cherykau-based PMK (Mobile Mechanical Division) No. 280.

A. Fralou, Head of the state-owned enterprise, asks the Court of Krychau district “to recognize the information distributed about the Cherykau PMK-280 in the printed edition “Vonly Horad” № 4 of 3 February 2013 as false” and “oblige the printed edition “Vonly Horad” “to publish a retraction on the same page in the same column of the publication.”

“The suit argues that we, in one of the issues of “Vonly Horad”, in an article entitled “Bondmen” gave false information about the organization. Earlier, over the same issue I and Kudrautsau were summoned to Krychau police department. However the law enforcement officers refused to initiate a criminal case,” says Siarhei Niarouny.

The editor says that in this situation it is the actions of the administration of PMK-280 that look very surprising.

“First of all, this issue could be easily solved out of court. If the employees of the organization had wished to act in accordance with the Mass Media Code, they would have contacted us with a demand to publish a clarification or rebuttal. We would have carried out an inspection and, if it had confirmed that the information was unreliable, we would have surely done that. Secondly, the politicization of the claim filed in court is surprising, as what the administration of PMK-280 saw in a small article was the only aim – “to discredit the executives of Cherykau PMK-280 and the district vertical power system.” In my opinion, it perfectly shows who is the real initiator of the suit,” says the journalist.

The independent newspaper “Vonly Horad” has a circulation of 299 copies and is distributed in Krychau district and in adjacent areas of the east of Mahiliou region.