In a letter to President Lukashenko, the Human Rights House Foundation has condemned the political campaign against Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva. The newspaper, one of the last independent voices in the country and the last newspaper in the Belarusian language, was not given a registered legal address in the country’s capital, Minsk. In the Belarusian context, this means that the newspaper won’t get a legal status. (27-APR-06)

Text: HRH / Ralph Pluimert

The reason for the refusal was the fact that editor-in-chief, Andrej Dynko, was arrested during the post-election protest for swearing in public and was subsequently sentenced to 10 days’ imprisonment. However, everything seems to indicate that the authorities are trying to find ways to silence the newspaper. Nasha Niva has been under continuous pressure, in particular over the last couple of months. As a result the newspaper is no longer distributed by the post offices and cannot be purchased at state-run newsstands. For these reasons, the publication of the newspaper has been relying on individual donations.

Apart from the fact that the newspaper tends to be critical to the Lukashenko regime, the ongoing campaign against the paper seems to be motivated by the fact that the newspaper is published in Belarusian. Under Lukashenko, an ongoing Russification has taking place and as a result Nasha Niva is the last newspaper that writes in Belarusian.

Read the letter here .