ARTICLE 19 Protests Against Pagonia Closure :: Charter'97 :: News

Article 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, expresses its concern at the closing down non-state Grodno-based newspaper by the Supreme Economic Court of Belarus on 12 November 2001. «This additional interference in the work of the non-State media in Belarus contributes to an atmosphere of intense intimidation, preventing the media from fulfilling the function of conveying society’s different viewpoints and repressing alternative voices. We strongly urge your government immediately to cease all forms of intimidation against journalists, to take steps to abrogate illegitimate media legislation and actively to foster conditions in which the non-State media may flourish», - emphasizes Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, in his letter to A. Lukashenka. Here comes the complete text of the letter.

“ Dear President Lukashenka,

ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, is writing to express its deep concern at the closing down of the non-State Grodno-based newspaper Pagonia by the Supreme Economic Court of Belarus on 12 November 2001.

According to our information, this ruling was based on two warnings issued by the State Committee for Press and the Grodno Regional Prosecutor’s Office. The first warning was issued on 17 November 2000 for printing a statement on behalf of the unregistered organisation Grodnenskaya Initiativa (Grodno Initiative). The second warning was issued on 21 September 2001 (after court proceedings had been started against the newspaper) for a series of articles (in issue No. 36 of 4 September 2001) about the potential for falsification of the presidential election results. The entire print-run of this issue was confiscated by police at the printing house. The Ministry for Information did not support this prosecution as it saw no legal grounds for the closure of the newspaper.

This action follows a period of harassment of employees of the paper by the KGB in the run-up to the presidential elections. During an alleged attempt to recruit a Pagonia journalist in August, a KGB agent apparently said that ‘although the closure of a newspaper does not lie within the competence of the KGB, there are other relevant bodies which can do that’. Afterwards, Nikolai Markevich, Pagonia’s editor, was summoned to the regional Deputy Prosecutor’s office and informed that Pagonia was to be closed.

These two warnings are based on clauses 8 and 9 of article 5 of the Law on Press which forbid slander of the President and the printing of information on behalf of unregistered organisations. They thereby both run counter to Belarus’ international obligations under Article 19 of the ICCPR, establishing everyone’s right to freedom of expression, including the “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print…”. International law permits restrictions on freedom of expression only in very narrowly prescribed circumstances and when strictly necessary in a democratic society. This legislation clearly goes far beyond such limits.

Furthermore, in addition to being questioned by the Belarusian Ministry for Information itself, the closure of a media outlet is widely considered disproportionate under international law as it severely restricts the ability of the public to receive information.

This additional interference in the work of the non-State media in Belarus contributes to an atmosphere of intense intimidation, preventing the media from fulfilling the function of conveying society’s different viewpoints and repressing alternative voices.

We strongly urge your government immediately to cease all forms of intimidation against journalists, to take steps to abrogate illegitimate media legislation and actively to foster conditions in which the non-State media may flourish.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Puddephatt

Executive Director”