Supreme Economic Court Shuts Down Pahonya Newspaper :: Charter'97 :: News

The Supreme Economic Court ruled to shut down an independent weekly Pahonya from Hrodna. Judge Zhandarov satisfied the petition of the Hrodno regional Prosecutor’s office, that several months ago initiated liquidation of the weekly “for the sake of the state”.

“Impossible!” – Pahonya’s editor-in-chief Mikola Markevich exclaimed, when Judge Zhandarov read a verdict: to stop the activities of the legal entity and the newspaper.

An hour earlier Markevich underlined that satisfying the petition of the Hrodna regional Prosecutor’s office would become a disgrace for the Belarusian jurisprudence and an outrageous fact in the history of the Belarusian journalism. But Zhandarov has not listened to these words.

Mikola Markevich commented that the court fulfilled a political order once more. On the example of Pahonya the strategies of effective and loud closures of newspapers are developed, so that dissenters would think twice if it is worth continuing their activity.

The defense says that the Supreme Economic Court broke the law by its judgment. Three warnings are required to liquidate a newspaper. Pahonya’s attorneys are positive that there was only one warning. The two others are illegal or have not came into action.

Now the defense will appeal against the Supreme Economic Court’s decision. Meanwhile Mikola Markevich is going to make an Internet version of the newspaper.