“Reporters without Frontiers”: Belarusian Press One of Least Free Worldwide :: Charter'97 :: News

Ahead of May 3 – the Universal Day of the freedom of press – the international organization “Reporters without frontiers” publicized its annual report about the freedom of speech situation in various corners of the world. According to the authors of the report, the situation with the freedom of Belarusian press was one of the worst in the world last year. The document enumerates multiple facts of pressure and harassment, unleashed against the independent editions.

Radio Svaboda reports that the RWF’s report details the disappearance of the cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky, claiming that trial over the suspected perpetrators left more questions than answers.

One of the report’s special sections is dedicated to the courageous “Narodnaya Volya” correspondent Valery Schukin, who had many times gone through prison sentences.

The Reporters note substantial intensification of repressions against mass media especially on the threshold to the presidential elections: reprimands, seizures of print runs, burglaries of the offices by the unknown, newspapers’ closure, legal persecution of journalists.

The report mentions the destiny of the “Pagonya” editor-in-chief Nikolai Markevich, whose edition was shut, while he and his subordinate journalist were brought to legal responsibility on trumped-up charges of libeling the head of state.

The “Reporters without frontiers” also analyze new tendencies in the official information policy in 2002: opening of the second national channel and the amendments into the Law on press. The authors of the report refer to the independent journalists, which believe that BT-2 will become an exact copy of the first channel and will be used to diminish the influence of Russian media. The report also gives a negative assessment of the amended Law on press.

The organization notes that although there are around 1 thousand registered editions in the country, in reality only some two dozens national and local papers can be regarded as public-political. Meantime, the print run of the newspaper, controlled by the presidential administration, constitutes half of the print runs of all other periodicals.

Stressing the alarming situation with the Belarusian media, the “Reporters without frontiers” regard the freedom of speech to be the key to the Belarusian democracy.