Natalya Radzina: Amendments to Law on Mass Media adopted because of Charter’97

Today Belarus has dropped to the level of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Access to charter97.org website from Belarus is blocked. Blocking is made through one of the subdivisions of Beltelecom.

Radio Racyja asked the editor-in-chief of charter97.org Natalya Radzina for comment. She is sure that the situation is connected both with the new law on Mass Media and the situation in the foreign currency market of the country:

- A panic purchasing of foreign currency is happening in the country now. The Belarusian ruble has dropped by almost 30%. People are standing in the queues, trying to buy currency. Confidence in the government is at zero level. And in this situation Lukashenka probably decided to block the last sources of independent information, in particular, charter97.org website. They are doing that in haste: they probably are short of time, the economic situation is deteriorating rapidly, so they decided to block the website before the new law “On Mass Media” came into force.

This law has been mostly adopted because of charter97.org website, Natalya Radzina says, as the authorities are afraid of this popular online media outlet, which is not censored. In fact, the editor-in-chief notes, today’s Belarus has dropped to the level of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The editorial office of Charter-97 was ready for such a scenario:

- We have informed our viewers how to bypass blocking. We are going to continue disseminating this information. I think that Belarusians will find the way how to read their favourite website.