belarus executive summary - US Department of State

BELARUS 19
Although authorities continued to allow the circulation of Narodnaya Volya and
Nasha Niva, two national independent newspapers, through state distribution
systems, they remained subject to restrictions and financial penalties. For
example, in January Belsayuzdruk refused to increase the number of Nasha Niva
copies available for sale despite high demand for the newspaper. On July 29, the
Minsk city economic court fined Nasha Niva 14 million rubles ($1,690) for
receiving two warnings during the year. On August 8, the Supreme Economic
Court fined the Narodnaya Volya the same amount on similar charges.
International media continued to operate in the country but not without interference
and prior censorship. Euronews and the Russian channels First Channel, NTV, and
RTR were generally available, although only through paid cable services in many
parts of the country. At times authorities blocked, censored, or replaced their news
programs with local programming. Broadcasts from other countries, including
Poland and Lithuania, could be received in parts of the country, usually along the
border.
On May 27, Lukashenka criticized Russian media for helping provoke an
“artificial” economic crisis. On June 13, presidential Chief of Staff Uladzimir
Makei dismissed what he called speculation about a ban on Russian media in the
country as “complete nonsense.” Conversely, Makei charged that Russian
authorities disregarded “flagrant violations of Belarusian laws and journalistic code
of ethics by a number of Russian media outlets.”
Violence and Harassment: Authorities continued to routinely harass, arrest, and
assault journalists.
Security forces arrested seven members of the Belarusian Association of
Journalists (BAJ), who later were convicted of “participating in mass disturbances”
or organizing activities that “violated public order” as a result of their work on
presidential campaigns. These included Sannikau spokesman Alyaksandr
Atroshchankau, sentenced to four years in jail in March and pardoned in
September; Sannikau aide Zmitser Bandarenka, sentenced to two years in jail;
Nyaklyaeu aides Alyaksandr Fyaduta and Syarhei Vaznyak, both given two-year
suspended sentences; Rymasheuski aide Paval Sevyarynets, sentenced to three
years of internal exile; independent journalist and Sannikau’s wife Iryna Khalip,
given a two-year suspended sentence; and editor of the Charter97 Internet portal
Natallya Radzina, who was charged, released from pretrial holding facilities on her
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor