Pyotar Martsaw: Independent Media Living the Rest Of Their Days :: Charter'97 :: News

In his interview to Radio Svaboda Pyotar Martsaw, founder and publisher of the “Beorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”, discourses upon the theme why constitutional right of Belarusian citizens for information is violated constantly, and who is accountable for independent press crackdown.

- Mr. Martsaw, in February you made two attempts to contest the warnings of the Information Ministry in the Highest Economic Court, but was unsuccessful. Moreover, Belposhta, Belarus`s national postal service, and Belsayuzdruk, the Belarusian national press`s retail-sales network, do not agree to sign contracts for delivering the newspaper to subscribers. What is, to your mind, the reason for this attitude of the state to independent media?

- The reason is the newspaper itself, its position. On the other hand, the reason is outlook of the people who administer the affairs of the state. In their perception, independent, non-state press has to right to exist. They probably were afraid to admit it themselves, but now everything is obvious: in this country independent press living the rest of its days.
- But to your mind, are the decisions on independent press’ fate are made collectively, or a certain person decides on it?

- I think that there are no illusions that the decision on the BDG was made in the highest office in the state. In any case, owner of the office, Lukashenka, knows the situation very well. And frankly speaking, the bureaucrats themselves in our private conversations do not hide that there was an order of the presidential administration.

- It is a completely natural step to take the case to the court and fight for the right to distribute information. You have already made a number of fruitless attempts.Could we expect continuation of these activities?

- Certainly, we are to assert our rights in the court. However, the whole history of trials of mass media vs. state institutions shows that the newspaper is more likely to lose. And when we speak about the president (and the BDG is prosecuted because of the article about Lukashenka), it is impossible to win a case. The judicial system , as many other institutions, is monopolized.