Belarusian journalist released after serving prison term :: Charter'97 :: News

The jail term of the former editor-in-chief of the Rabochy newspaper, Viktar Ivashkevich, expired on 16 December. Ivashkevich was convicted of libel after he tried to reprint Internet material which accused President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of corruption and illegal arms sales in the newspaper`s special issue ahead of the presidential election in September 2001. All the copies of the issue were confiscated before they were ever distributed. The Ivashkevich case was preceded by another guilty verdict for libelling Lukashenka passed on two other Belarusian journalists from the opposition Pahonya newspaper.

According to Ivashkevich, he was requested to leave the hostel of the correctional facility [where he served his community service sentence] at 0730 [0530 gmt]. However, earlier he was told that he would be released no earlier than noon. The former prisoner says that the authorities were afraid that representatives of the opposition and private media would gather [near the correctional facility].

Viktar Ivashkevich said that he is not going to publish a new paper right after his release, though he does not rule out that one day he will devote himself to his favourite business.
"Despite one year of imprisonment, I have not got onto `the right path` and have not changed my views. However, I have realized that one should be more careful with the facts that get to the press and check them several times," Viktar Ivashkevich told Belapan.

Ivashkevich plans to work as an administrator for the Belarusian People`s Front and look for investors for his new paper.