Alexander Starikevich was sacked on August 8 from the post of the chief editor of the trade union newspaper “Belarusky Chas”. Starikevich familiarized himself with the order, signed by the newly appointed FTU head Leonid Kozik. The motivation behind the move, as stated in the document, is “the employer’s decision”. Commenting on this decision, Starikevich told Ratsya that he would hardly address the court for the “result is predestined anyway”.
Alexander Starikevich was introduced to the dismissal order on Thursday. At the last FTU plenary meeting the majority did not upheld Kozik’s request and left Starikevich at the post. But the FTU leader ignored their decision and commanded to fire the man.
During the recent plenary, Leonid Kozik explained the decision in the following way: “There’s nothing political in that. The newspaper will continue functioning. We have deputy editor and soon we’ll find editor too. I never interfered nor will interfere into their affairs.” Meantime, he noted that the new editor “must work for unity, not disunity. With the previous editor we couldn’t achieve that.”
Alexander Starikevich said in response that “the new FTU leaders need new newspaper and, consequently, new editor-in-chief”.
During the presidential elections in 2001 Alexander Starikevich upheld the united opposition’s candidate, former FTU leader Vladimir Goncharik. A weekly “Belarusky Chas” newspaper has a print run of 42thsd copies. During Starikevich’s period, the paper rose twice in size – from 8 to 16 pages.
Dear Colleagues. Remember, please, you are expected to refer to the Charter`97 Press Center when using the site materials. News export , javascript-informer
, javascript-informer
