Amendments to law on mass media are war of lie against truth

The Political Council of the United Civil Party (UCP) has released a statement.

The UCP prepared the statement to support the independent Belarusian media.

“Instead of struggling with inflation, minimising corruption and creating new jobs, the Belarusian authorities think how to block access to information.

The 'house of representatives' passed amendments to the law on the mass media in two readings. But MPs are not so zealous when it comes to curbing inflation, protect Belarusian manufacturers from the inept financial policy and get rid of the shameful title 'alcoholic country'. Voters have seen again how the country needs honest free elections, how important it is to have the right to choose and the right to elect decent people able to answer to challenges.

The Political Council of the United Civil Party regards these actions as, firstly, a part of the preparation for the 2015 presidential campaign; secondly, as an intention to tighten control over information flows and close sources of independent information.

It is highly probable that some media outlets from the blacklist, including such popular websites as Charter, will be blocked from January 1 and that the media outlets located in Belarus will tighten self-censorship,” the party says in the statement.

The Political Council of the United Civil Party regards these changes as the government's steps to:

1) tighten total control over everything in the country;

2) make system even more corrupt due to restrictions of free speech;

3) increase propaganda pressure to brainwash people.

“The Political Council of the United Civil Party would like to turn attention to the fact that these measures will hit not only journalists and staff of independent media outlets, but all of us. They infringe on our constitutional right to spread and receive information. We are deprived of the right of choice.

We'd like to draw attention to the time when the amendments were made. MPs hope that the upcoming holidays can distract people from the problem both inside and outside Belarus.

The Political Council of the United Civil Party calls on the international community not to hurry to run into the arms of the regime that denies the fundamental European values. The people of Belarus expect a proper reaction from international organisations, human rights groups and journalists.

The regime is afraid of the truth most of all. The authorities lose any discussion to the truth. The authorities decided to destroy all those telling the truth. Most of them are Internet media. It is in fact a war of the lie against the truth,” the statement underlines.