An action “Chain of Those Who Care” which was dedicated to the closure of the non-state newspaper Pahonya is to take placer today from 12 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. in Hrodna, in the Soviet Street. Pahonya’s editor-in-chief Mikalaj Markevich in his interview to BelaPAN agency told that he is going to address the Belarusian Diaspora in Vilnius, that shares democratic values and the idea of independent Belarus, with an appeal to hold a picket in newspaper’s support on November 19-20, while the PACE Political Committee sitting is to take place in the capital of Lithuania. Pahonya’s editor-in-chief is also determined to call upon the parliament of Poland to hold a hearing to discuss the closure of the non-state newspaper.
In a statement signed the day before by the Hrodna branch of the Belarusian Journalists’ Association, the pre-history of the newspaper’s closure was discussed and the conclusion was that “all the facts on this case speak loudly about the political underlying causes of the court verdict”. Journalists protest against the verdict and demand to cancel the decision, and to stop politically motivated criminal investigation of Pahonya’s reporters (the case brought up against them by the regional Prosecutor’s office for the alleged libeling Belarusian president has not finished yet). “We call upon our colleagues journalists, political parties and non-state associations, international organizations, parliaments and governments of the neighbouring states to support our petition and to express disapproval of the uncivilized action of the Belarusian authorities”, -- is stressed in the statement of the BAJ’s Hrodna branch. Journalists warn that shutting down of the Pahonya could become a base for suppressing all Belarusian mass media.
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