“Nasha Niva” given due warning for article by Colonel Baradach

M. Kuklis, a deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus, has issued an official warning to “Nasha Niva” newspaper for publishing an article “Colonel Baradach: explosive planted by some special services’ people” in its issue #14.

In the article the former colonel of the army Spetsnaz (special purpose force) expressed his opinion that some representatives of the authorities interested in destabilization of the situation in the country could stand behind the terrorist attack in Minsk, “Nasha Niva” writes.

According to the prosecutor’s office, such an opinion is unsubstantiated. “The article contains libelous fabrications about actions of law-enforcing agencies,” the prosecutor believes. The prosecutor’s office has found in the article actions “aimed at discrediting the Belarusian state”. The prosecutor’s office views the information in the article as “false information”.

The public prosecution officer brought the warning document to the editorial office on April 19. The conversation with the editor-in-chief was held in a polite manner.

We remind that a day earlier, on April 18, the editor-in-chief of “Nasha Niva” was summoned to the KGB and warned about responsibility for disclosing the materials of investigation in April 11 terrorist attack case.

Over the last four months it was the 7th meeting of “Nasha Niva” representative with the KGB. Previously 4 searches have been held; an office equipment seizure, one interrogation and one visit for seizing photo and video materials. It’s hard to imagine any other newspaper in any other European country to work in such a situation.