In a letter to president Lukashenko the authoritative human rights organization The International League for Human Rights, shared its indignation over the arbitrary shutdown of the independent weekly Pagonya. Following read the full text of the message.
Dear Mr. Lukashenko,
The International League for Human Rights, an international non-governmental human rights organization with consultative status at ECOSOC UN, is writing to express serious concern about the closure of newspaper Pagonya, one of the first independent publications in Belarus.
In early September 2001, Grodno’s Prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case against the newspaper, confiscating its entire print. Although the office claimed that “numerous violations of the Law on Press” were the basis for the newspaper’s closure, only one official warning had been issued to Pagonya before, for publishing an appeal by an unregistered non-governmental organization. The Information Ministry, which had issued the warning, later withdrew it. Apparently mindful of the stipulation that a media outlet can be shut down only after two official warnings, the Grodno’s Prosecutor’s office issued a second warning for publishing materials allegedly insulting of President Lukashenko, the very charges it had brought against the newspaper in the suit earlier. The Belarusian High Economic Court upheld the second warning after Pagonya’s editor Mikola Markevich appealed it, and ruled to shut the newspaper down despite the still open criminal investigation of the matter and the absence of a court decision.
The League is concerned that Pagonya’s closure is a fulfillment of President Lukashenko’s promise made prior to the presidential elections on September 9, 2001, to “deal with independent press after the ballot.” This promise is in contrast with Lukashenko’s official campaign platform stating that “every person has the right to his own opinion, he will also have the right to express it freely and without limitation," which echoes Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We urge you to use the power of your office to allow Pagonya and other independent media outlets to function freely and without fear of persecution, thus honoring the international commitments on freedom of expression to which Belarus is a signatory.
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