Vitebskij Courier is a Belarusian newspaper forced into exile by the authorities. Having been denied the registration at home the paper had to obtain one in neighbouring the Russian Federation. Originally from Viciebsk (North Belarus) Courier is registered and printed in Smolensk (West Russia) now. It has a weekly circulation of 11000.

On 8 October in Liozna (a district centre of Viciebsk region) road police stopped a car, which a businessman Viktar Ramniou used to transport the most recent (35th) issue of Courier from a Smolensk printing house. Without explaining reasons the Viciebsk Korund director, an entity that owns the paper, was ordered by police to follow them to a precinct. There the entire circulation was held for further inquiries and Mr Ramniou was written up for “illegal distribution of a periodic printed publication.”

As a result Viktar Ramniou was fined with 1,225,000 Belarusian rubbles (around 300 Euro) for an “illegal distribution” of Vitebskij Courier (art. 22.9/2 of the Administrative Code). In addition, the Lozna District Court verdict ordered to confiscate the circulation (11000 copies). It appears that the confiscation was the original pretext for detaining Mr Ramanau and arresting the circulation. The trial was a simple means to the obvious end.

Volha Karach, left, the Courier co-founder, believes that the circulation arrest is related to the upcoming presidential election and the authorities’ attempts to curb on alternative sources of information. “One could argue that what was done by the authorities [in relation to Courier] is linked with the current presidential campaign. For the very onset [of this campaign] Vitebskij Courier was publishing interviews with presidential hopefuls. We had managed to cover 7 candidates. Two more interviews were in the confiscated issue. Also, this issue was focused on how Viciebsk courts were dealing with citizens’ addresses about violations of the Electoral Code,” Ms Karach shared.

State propaganda agressively promoted
When the access to independent mass media was greatly abstracted the informational void had to be filled out. The authorities as usual have an answer – they simply increase the number of state owned circulations.

In Mazyr (South Belarus, Homiel region) local HR defenders had reliable information that BiełSajuzDruk (state retailer) news stands were ordered to increase sales of state run newspapers. Governmental SB: Bełaruś Today and Homielskaja Praŭda are inflating their circulation numbers as the Election Day approaches. BiełSajuzDruk vendors were forced by their superiors to fulfil increased projected sales of the papers.  

“The increased circulations of SB: Bełaruś Today and Homielskaja Praŭda  have been delivered to newsstands,” a seller at BiełSajuzDruk told the campaign HR Defenders for Free Election.

According to her, newsstand sellers are obliged to sell far more those newspapers than before. That’s why they offer every customer to buy the papers.

“A year of the unprecedented by-net intrusion”
This year has also been marked by unparalleled attempts to control the national segment of Internet. According to the field expert Yury Ziser “the year was notable for unprecedented growth and equal if not greater attempts by the authorities to interfere with by-net. There were numerous legal acts adopted that changed the Belarusian Internet.”

Mr Ziser, however, disagreed that these changes were exclusively linked to the election. He argued that they were a part of a consistent and gradual campaign to increase the Internet control in Belarus.

I-net filtration, anticipated by the Belarusian users to begin on 1 September, has not yet materialised into any concrete measures. But there are no grounds to believe that the authorities have simply forgotten about it. Pre-election risks are too great to ignore. That is why the filtration, not just on paper but a very real one, could be introduced when it is least expected. 

Based on  spring96.org, baj.by, charter97.org