The less time before the Presidential elections, the more active steps the authorities are taking to mop up the information space of Belarus. At the end of this week the Belarusian electorate lost a few more sources of uncensored information.
We would like to remind you that BelPochta, the monopolistic distributor of printed periodicals, did not include the independent Republican publications Narodnaia volia, Solidarnosts, Zgoda and BDG. Delovaia gazeta into the state subscription catalog for the first half-year of the year 2006. BelPochta also refused to take subscription orders for Nasha niva.
Over the past few years the major opposition press has been liquidated, with several independent publications remaining in the regions. Now the authorities are working to eliminate this omission.
On 14 November the director of OOO Rehianalnaia hazeta (Molodechno) Aliexandr Mantsevich received an official notification from Belpochta, which said that the publication had not been included into the catalog for the first half of the next year. The official reasoning is economic. Mr. Mantsievich was laconic, commenting on the situation: “In reality, this looks like captious objections. In this case I am shocked by the difference in the attitude toward state-owned enterprises and privately-owned companies. Undoubtedly, this is a politically-motivated decision”.
On 15 November the police made a tour of some Minsk shops to “retrieve” copies of the unregistered youth-oriented magazine “Studentskaia dumka, which is distributed free of charge. This magazine is unique to Belarus. It is published in Belarusian and highly popular with active young people of Belarus.
On 17 November the editorial office of the newspaper Moladziovy praspiekt received a letter from the Information Ministry, which said that the registration certificate issued to this periodical had been cancelled. The reason quoted was two reasons issued by the Information Ministry within one calendar year. “They are shutting down anything that is active and has potential”. , says one of the newspaper founders Mr. Navasiad
Andrei Bastuniets, Deputy Chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, sums up: “The authorities moved on from “dealing with” some symbolic periodicals down to regional publications that reach out to very limited numbers of readers.
The process of “mopping up” non-governmental media in Belarus is coming to an end.
