Belarus: Freedom of Press Prize awarded to Alena Raubetskaya

The Press prize of Ihar Hiermianchuk Memorial is awarded by the  Belarusian Association of Journalist (BAJ), Human Rights House Foundation and the Norwegain PEN  to the editor-in-chief Alena Raubetskaya on the International day of Freedom of Press  on May 3. Mrs. Raubetskaya is being honered for her critical articles in relation to the October elections in 2004 (3-MAY-05).

BAJ states that Hrodna region has become the territory of increased danger for independent media. The “Pahonia” newspaper journalists got imprisoned for different terms there in 2001. A successive persecution campaign, directed at independent journalists started in the Hrodna region in 2004.  The Human Rights House Foundation and the Norwegian PEN are hoping the Prize of Ihar Hiermianchuk Memorial will raise the international awareness of the difficult situation of journalists in Belarus.

Charged for critical article
After the referendum in October there was initiated an administrative case against Alena Raubetskaja, the editor-in-chief of the  newspaper “Birzha Informacyi” , dwelling upon the referendum of October, 17, 2004. As a result, A. Raubetskaja was forced to pay 1,350 thousand Belarusan rubles. Consequently, the newspaper got suspended from publishing in November 2004. There were imposed administrative sanctions on the journalists, who dared take part in an unauthorized picket in solidarity with Alena Raubetksaja.

According to BAJ, 25 printed media were closed down in Belarus last year. It was a grievous record of recent years. –We state that the problems, connected with ensuring the freedom of speech in our country remain unsolved, said Zhanna Litvina the leader of BAJ. The Board of the Belarusian Association of Journalists  appeals to all conscientious people, backing the ideals of freedom and democratic and support the independent press of Belarus.

Criminal cases against journalists
In October 2004, the Vaukavysk-located “Miestnaja Gazieta” was suspended from publishing. Its founder and editor-in-chief Andrei Shantarovich announced a non-term protest hunger-strike. Later on, the Vaukavysk District Court considered the hunger-strike to be an unauthorized picket and resolved to fine A. Shantarovich 1,200,000 Belarusan rubles. In the same year, there was initiated a criminal case against Ramuald Ulan, the “Novaja Gazieta Smorgoni” newspaper publisher. Consequently, he was sentenced to a custodial restraint. The “Novaja Gazieta Smorgoni” publishing got terminated.

Legal violations in Hrodna in March
Once again, the Hrodna region attracted attention of the Belarusan and international community in the spring 2005. At the beginning of March, the “Pahonia” Web-site correspondent Andrei Pachobut got sentenced to a 10-day term of administrative arrest for reporting from an unauthorized entrepreneurs’ meeting in the center of Hrodna. Several days afterwards, there was held a bi-election to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly in Hrodna. During the event, the polling stations’ officials banned illegally the local and foreign journalists to be present at the polling stations. The legal violations were so evident that they got officially recognized by the supreme officials of the Central Electoral Committee of Belarus later on.

Restrictions from authorities
The independent press publishers face acute problems with printing and distributing their periodical editions. Commonly, non-governmental journalists are not permitted to attend events, arranged by local authorities. Moreover, the governmental officials reject to provide information to independent press-men. The journalists are getting more and more frequently summoned to the police in connection with their professional activities, says BAJ in a statement of the International Day of Freedom of Press.  

Total control by the authorities
The authorities carry on treating the media as a propagandist machine. They demand complete obedience from the press, having imposed total control on the information channels and the journalists’ activities. In these conditions, the independent press keeps to the principles of journalist trade and remains the source of updated and comprehensive information for the Belarusan citizens on the events in Belarus and in the world.