Natalia Radzina: Pressure on journalists inserted by means of Criminal Code and KGB

An OSCE seminar on human dimension “Legal basis for media freedom” is taking place in Warsaw on 13-15 May.

When opening the seminar the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic stated that many governments of the organization’s member states violate the freedom of speech and claim that they act in accordance with the norms of national legislation.

“I do not agree with that. All the member states have taken obligations in the framework of the OSCE. Much national legislation need being reformed, law wordings are vague and allow for violation of the freedom of speech. Laws, well-written at the first sight, are hollow if they serve only one grouping. OSCE obligations must be followed and do not feel offended when I remind of that. Many journalists are behind bars. Although they simply did their job, they are being accused of being terrorists or hooligans. It should not be like that in countries that call themselves democratic. No one should be thrown to a prison only for criticizing a government”, - Dunja Mijatovic stated.

Representatives of official delegations and non-governmental organizations from OSCE member states made speeches at the seminar.

Speaking about the problems with the freedom of speech, independent journalists and human rights activists from post-Soviet countries – Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia – criticized the OSCE for the absence of instruments to influence the situation in their countries.

The editor-in-chief of the charter97.org web-site made a speech at the OSCE seminar. She reminded that a journalist of Russian Novaya Gazeta and the wife of a presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov Iryna Khalip is still under criminal prosecution in Belarus as well as a journalist of Polish Gazeta Wyborcza Andrzej Paczobut, photographer Anton Surapin, distributor of independent media Andrej Haidukou. He also noted that the cases of administrative arrests of journalists have become more frequent in Belarus recently. Thus, currently Aliaksandr Jarashevich and Dzmitry Halko are serving the arrest time, earlier Henadz Barbarych was arrested, the prosecutor’s office made a warning to Aleh Hruzdzilovich.

The journalist noted the new tendencies – Criminal Code articles, which are applied to journalists in Belarus, vary a lot.

“If before journalists were held responsible mainly according to the articles “slander against president” and “abuse of president”, then now we see that Iryna Khalip received the punishment of 2 years in prison with a postponement for “participating in mass disturbances”, a criminal case was started against Anton Surapin according to the article “assisting the illegal crossing of state border” only for posting the pictures of the so-called teddy bear landing force on the internet.

A youth activist Andrej Hajdukou was held responsible according to the article “state treason” for disseminating Charter’97 newspaper. And the prison terms for the violation of those article are respective – 3,5,7 years in prison. Even pictures are recognized as extremist, like it was the case with the album Press-photo. All in all, the tendency of the recent time is that even more political prisoners become such for trying to implement their right for receiving and disseminating information.

The pressure of special services on journalists has increased too. They become victims of blackmail, illegal recruiting, there is an attempt being carried out to confidentially impose KGB curators on media, who under the threat of repressions try to manage the content of independent media.

There is information that the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media will soon come to Belarus. We would want to warn European politicians: the Belarusian authorities may release one or two journalists, but this will not change the essence of the situation. It is important to understand that the freedom of speech will only be ensured in the country with the change of the dictatorial rule for a democratic one”, - Natalia Radzina stated.

The charter97.org’s editor-in-chief met the vice-chairwomen of the PA OSCE’s Committee on Human Right Isabel Santos in the course of the seminar. During their meeting they discussed the situation with human rights in Belarus, the situation with the political prisoners and also the possibility of eliminating the official Belarusian delegation from the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly.