President Marek Nowicki of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) in Poland has written a letter to the OSCE, remarking Belarusian authorities´ violation of the freedom of expression. (23 August 2002)

Mr. Freimut Duve
OSCE Representative
on Freedom of the Media
Karntner Ring 5-7, Top 14, 2. DG
1010, Vienna
Austria
GMT +1
Tel. +43-1 512 21 450
Fax +43-1 512 21 459

14 August 2002

Dear Mr. Duve,

We write this letter to draw your attention to a glaring example of breaking international standards of freedom of speech by the authorities of the Republic of Belarus.

The immediate cause for our intervention is the request of a citizen of this country, Vladimir Laptsevich, who has been seeking our help for some time. His case shows clearly that the authorities of Belarus do not respect the aforementioned standards, and ignore opinions of international organisations that speak in defence of freedom of expression. More significantly, this case testifies forcibly to the fact that Belarus does not respect the opinions of such distinguished legal bodies as the UN Human Rights Committee, although it is obliged to do so as a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Mr. Laptsevich is a journalist living in Poland now, where he is seeking to obtain the status of a refugee. On 23 March he was distributing leaflets with the information on the anniversary of the proclamation of the declaration of independence of the Belarusian People´s Republic in the centre of Mogilev, a Belarusian town. The police detained him, whereas the leaflets were confiscated from him; then he was charged with infringing the 172nd article of the Belarusian Administrative Code. The Administrative Committee imposed a fine of 390.000 Belarusian roubles upon him, the equivalent of triple minimal monthly salary in the country at that time, for circulating leaflets that lacked such necessary data as the time and place of issue, the serial number, etc. – as it was emphasised by the Committee. He was found guilty by the District Court, Regional Court in Mogilev, and finally by the Supreme Court in Belarus. After exhausting all possible means of appeal in his fatherland, Mr. Laptsevich lodged a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee (case #780/1997) on 18 August 1997. On 20 March 2000, the Committee expressed the opinion that Belarus had violated the 19th Article of the ICCPR in his case.

Consequently, the Committee recommended that Mr. Laptsevich should -2- be repaid the fine that had been imposed on him, and that the Republic of Belarus should also change the regulation in conflict with the 19th Article of the ICCPR. However, Belarus has not followed this recommendation up to this day. Mr. Laptsevich informed the members of the HRC about it in his letters sent on 5 April 2000. Several days later he asked us for help in this matter.

Dear Mr. Duve, The present authorities of the Republic of Belarus have shown many times that the freedom of speech, which is stipulated in the Belarusian Constitution, means for them nothing more than freedom of persecuting these citizens of the country who attach weight to the Constitution and the right to free expression. The case of journalists of the liquidated newspaper “Pagonya” can serve as a striking example of those proceedings; they were condemned to imprisonment for attempting at publishing an article in which President Aleksander Lukashenko´s moral competence for holding this office was questioned. Furthermore, there is every indication that the editor of the newspaper called” Rabochy” will suffer a similar fate, as he has already been charged with defaming President Lukashenko during the presidential election campaign. Another obvious example of ignoring international law by the Belarusian authorities is the official listing of Belarusian intellectuals whose works are forbidden to be circulated and read legally, which fact you commented very critically yourself in a report to the OSCE Permanent Council on 20 June 2002.

What is most worrying in Laptsevich´s case, however, is the fact that the Republic of Belarus has refused to comply with the recommendation of a world legal institution, even though it is obliged to do so, being the State party of the ICCPR. It seems that the state authorities are ready to disregard even their international commitments in their attempt at depriving the Belarusians of freedom of expression. It is worthy of stressing that even the fact that Mr. Laptsevich is the first Belarusian citizen to have won a case before the UN HRC has not influenced the Belarusian authorities positively. We have already informed the Special UN Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom Opinion and Expression of the aforementioned illegal activities concerning Mr. Laptsevich by a way of a letter sent on 1 August 2002. We sincerely hope that Mr. Laptsevich´s predicament will draw your attention. If this is the case we offer all possible assistance we can give in your dealings with this instance of ignoring international law.

Yours sincerely,
SIGNATURE
Marek Nowicki
President of the Board

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is a non-governmental organisation that was established in 1991 by the members of the Helsinki Committee in Poland. Its main objective is to develop the culture of human rights both in the country and abroad. The organization conducts educational and research activity in Poland and many other countries; its staff members and volunteers monitor legislation and legal practice in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia; they also support action tending towards carrying into effect the idea of the state of law. The HFHR co-operates with dozens of organizations all over the world.