Authorities Scared By Truth :: Charter'97 :: News

Administrative case of the journalist and human rights watchdog Natallya Kalyada was tried on February 2 in the court of Central District of Minsk. Judge Natalia Vojtsechovich found Natalya Kalyada guilty in violation of the article 167-10 of the Administrative Code (activities on behalf of unregistered or not re-registered political parties, trade unions and public associations) and sentenced her to a fine amounting to 20 minimal salaries.

The legal proceedings against Natallya Kalyada were instituted on the basis of decree signed by the deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus Kupriyanaw. Natallya Kalyada is accused of “participation in forming” of a site of the public initiative Charter’97 and monitoring of human rights violations in Belarus, which is prepared by the human rights department of the Charter’97. As for the monitoring, the prosecutor’s office found especially objectionable such sections as “arbitrary arrests, detentions and exile”, “denial of just court examination”, and the list of people who violate human rights.

“It is the first, unprecedented occurrence in Belarus, when the materials in Internet were the reason for considering the case in the court and when the judgment was passed for placing information in the Internet space. I think it is just the beginning, because the judge said in the end of the session of the court that she waits impatiently for the time when news on internet are to be in line with the Law on Mass Media. Today’s court is a part of the campaign of intimidation before the parliamentary elections. However we shall continue to tell the truth about situation in the country through internet, because actually there is no other means of spreading information in Belarus: independent mass media are destroyed, while TV and radio are monopolized by the state,” commented Natallya Kalyada the results of the court to the Charter’97 press center.