“Reporters Without Borders” reminded Rusakevich about freedom of speech

Reporters Without Borders has written to the Belarusian ministers of information and communication condemning the comments about online regulation that deputy information minister Liliya Ananich made during a round table organised by the magazine Belaruskaya Dumka on 2 June.

As informed by the website ElectroName.com, in the letter addressed to Uladzimir Rusakevich, Reporters Without Borders write:

“Most Belarusian citizens are regular Internet users. We are aware that it is important to regulate website content but we are also convinced that freedom of expression should not suffer as a result. We would therefore be grateful if you would send us the provisional findings of the working group you set up last year to study Internet legislation in various countries in order to identify regulations that could be applied in Belarus.”

Responding the statements of Aleh Pralyaskouski (Proleskovsky), who heads the informational analysis centre at the office of the president, who stated the necessity of filtering the web content, Reporters Without Borders asked Communications and Information Minister Mikalay Pantsyalej in a letter what software the government planned to use to regulate the Internet in Belarus.

“We would like to know what kinds of websites are targeted by these filtering methods and the precise reasons for using such filtering,” the letter said. “We regard this manifest desire to control content as a threat to online freedom of expression. It is all the more reprehensible that you envisage a partnership with China, the world’s leading online censor.”