BHC Sues “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” Over Slander 11:17, 26/12/2001
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee demands through court refutation of slanderous data, disseminated in the “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” September 5 issue. The newspaper published a libelous article, claiming that the BHC activities allegedly subvert the country’s national security. In course of the past three months the BHC was trying hard to get this information publicly refuted. The human rights defenders addressed the KGB, the Security Council and even the very presidential Administration and none of these institutions confirmed BHC’s involvement in anti-state activities.
However, the newspaper didn’t feel at all like disproving its allegations, which made the BHC people petition over the matter the Sovietsky court of Minsk. At the moment, the BHC only demands to confess that the information was false and refute it on the same page of an issue, published with the same print run.
Interestingly, the article in question was allocated in the “SB” special issue, whose circulation was twice that of a regular issue. Its main topic was candidate Alexander Lukashenko’s election program.
The special issue was produced in color on eight pages and was distributed free of charge. So far, the society remains clueless as to who financed that issue.
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