Printing company destroys issued copies of Volkovysk-based private weekly :: Charter'97 :: News

Plutos Market, a private publishing company in Minsk, on November 17 destroyed all printed copies of a new issue of the private weekly Mestnaya Gazeta that was expected to go out after a month-long suspension imposed by the information ministry and a 20-day hunger strike staged by the newspaper owner.

As Aleksandr Shentorovich, owner and editor-in-chief of the Volkovysk-based weekly, told BelaPAN, after printing 3,500 copies, Plutos Market stopped the press and destroyed all the printed copies. “Moreover, I can’t reach the company’s management by phone,” he noted.
On the same day, Mr. Shentorovich was questioned in the Volkovysk district police department in connection with his hunger protest, which police officers said was an unsanctioned demonstration. “In addition, I was accused of distributing leaflets and of residing in Volkovysk without the required official registration,” he noted.

He said that he views the publishing company’s move and the police’s allegations as direct pressure, and an attempt to drive him out of the city and prevent the newspaper from being published.
According to him, the new newspaper issue was to run a full account of the hunger strike along with his comment.

The Mestnaya Gazeta, printed in 8,500 copies, was suspended by the Ministry of Information for alleged minor irregularities in mid-October. The decision came days before parliamentary elections and a referendum on lifting the constitutional term limit on the presidency.

The chief editor responded by going on a hunger strike on October 20. One of his demands was to examine what he called video evidence of irregularities in the parliamentary elections and referendum. The local prosecutor’s office collected his video records for examination, but he has not yet received any official reply.

The BAJ petitioned the Volkovysk district government on behalf of the newspaper, insisting that it provided broad and unbiased coverage of the poll.