BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/03/2006

World Newspaper Organisations Protest Against Press Crackdown in Belarus

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have called on the President of Belarus to release all journalists from prison and to end the attacks on independent media that have followed his disputed re-election.

In a letter to President Alexander Lukashenko, the Paris-based WAN and the WEF said the arrests constitute "an abuse of power and sanctioning them will only serve to further tarnish your country's international standing."

The letter expressed support "to the Belarusian media community as a whole for its courageous efforts to continue reporting on the crackdown on opposition supporters by security forces." WAN and the WEF commended the Belarusian Journalists Association for monitoring the ongoing assault on press freedom.

At least nine journalists were arrested on 24 March, following the re-election of Mr Lukashenko. Belarusian police also barred journalists from photographing the police assault that led to the arrests of several hundred demonstrators who were protesting the election result.

The election was called fraudulent by independent observers and has led to sanctions against the Belarusian government by the United States and the European Union.

The letter said:

"We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our outrage at the arrests of journalists in Belarus in the week following your re-election.

"According to reports, police detained at least nine journalists in on 24 March. They barred other journalists from filming or taking pictures of the police assault which led to the arrests of several hundred demonstrators and ended an around-the-clock rally that began Sunday evening in protest of the election results.

"Tatyana Snitko and Artyom Liava, journalists with the independent newspaper Nasha Niva, freelance journalists Tatyana Vanina and Vadim Kaznacheyeu, Canadian freelance reporter Frederick Levoie and Aleksandr Podrabinek, correspondent for the Russian human rights information agency Prima-News, were reportedly arrested in the early hours of 24 March.

"Nino Giorgobiani, a reporter and Giorgi Laghidze, a cameraman, with the Georgian Public Broadcasting television channel, were detained outside a Minsk courthouse on 24 March while waiting to interview relatives of the arrested protesters.

"Two additional foreign journalists have been arrested in the past week. Polish journalist Dzmitry Hurnevich of Radio Polonia, and Ukrainian journalist Andrij Lubka, of the newspaper Karpatski Holos, who were arrested on 21 and 22 March respectively.

"According to the Belarusian Journalists Association (BAJ), a total of twenty eight Belarusian journalists have been arrested and detained in the past two weeks.

"We respectfully remind you that the arrest and detention of these journalists constitutes a serious breach of their right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: 'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.'

"We wish to express our solidarity to the Belarusian media community as a whole for its courageous efforts to continue reporting on the crackdown on opposition supporters by security forces and commend the efforts of the Belarusian Journalists Association to monitor the ongoing assault on press freedom by your government. BAJ is the 2003 recipient of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom, an award given by the World Association of Newspapers to recognise the outstanding contribution of an individual or organisation to press freedom.

"We call on you to do everything in your capacity to ensure the unconditional release of all detained journalists and that all attacks on the press cease immediately. These acts are an abuse of power and sanctioning them will only serve to further tarnish your country's international standing.

"We urge you to do everything possible to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression."