Valyantsin Stefanovich: Internet Sites are not Mass Media :: Charter'97 :: News

A well-known human rights’ defender Valyantsin Stefanovich is sure that the actions of authorities taken against oppositional leader Adrey Klimau are non-legitimate. “The public prosecutors’ actions are confusing. The article was published in Internet and the sites are not assigned to mass media by the law on mass media. It is attempted to stipulate their equal character in a new version of the law. It is to be mentioned that similar cases have been already brought. The information located in Internet was classified as “distribution of information containing slander against President of the Republic of Belarus”. It is advisable here to mention Viktar Ivashkevich’s and the”Rabochy” newspaper case as well as the case of cartoons about Lukashenka. Such non-legitimate practice has been already set up here”, declared the rights” defender in his interview with the Charter’97 press-center.

The rights’ defender remarks that the clauses stipulating responsibility for information distribution have been removed form the criminal codes of European countries.

“It refers to the civil responsibility, moreover, as far as such clauses as " slander” or” offense” of President are concerned because President is a public figure and here we face different extent of permission for journalists and the society. We have to admit that even our close neighbors who are not the European Union members do not have such clauses. For example, in Russia and Ukraine. It is total nonsense”, Valyantsin Stefanovich said.

3 April morning policymaker Andrey Klimau was arrested in Minsk. The militiamen brought him to the public prosecutor’s office in Minsk. He is charged of the crime stipulated by Clause 361 of the criminal code of Belarus (calls for armed overthrow of the state system). It is still unclear what part of the Clause 361 Andrey Klimau is charged of breaching.

The criminal case was caused by Andrey Klimau’s publication under the title “Revolution forever or How to slice the Gipsy hog in the year of swine" located at the Internet site of the United Civil Party. Andrey Klimau writes in the article about Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s involvement in kidnapping and killing of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition.