28 March 2024, Thursday, 22:15
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

Information Minister’s Threats To Independent Media Discussed At OSCE Meeting

14
Information Minister’s Threats To Independent Media Discussed At OSCE Meeting

The charter97.org Editor-In-Chief has made a speech at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.

The annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the OSCE is held in Warsaw on September 19-30.

In her speech, the charter97.org Editor-in-Chief Natallia Radzina has reminded about the recent threats to the independent websites coming from the Ministry of Information of Belarus:

- The situation with the freedom of speech remains sustainably hard in Belarus. The TV and radio broadcasting are controlled by the state, huge sums from the budget go to finance propaganda, and a few independent media that managed to survive are working in the conditions of blackmail and pressure from the authorities and the special services.

The most recent threats to the independent media sounded on September 11, on the day Belarus held the so-called “parliamentary elections”, which were fabricated just like all the previous ones.

Minister of Information Liliya Ananich stated that “some websites, based abroad, have occupied a destructive position at the current elections and will be subjected to responsibility in compliance with the national legislation”.

It looks obvious that she meant the website charter97.org as the most popular and independent internet-resource. The national legislation prescribes blocking of websites without a court trial basing solely on a warning made by the Ministry of Information.

Let me shortly remind you why we are forced to work from abroad today. This is because founder of the website charter97.org Aleh Biabenin was murdered in Belarus, the editor’s office was attacked by the special forces several times, they confiscated all our technical equipment. Four criminal cases were started against me, one of them ended in sending me to the KGB prison.

If the authorities block the independent websites, the whole informational space will be covered by propaganda: the Belarusian one (of Lukashenka) and the Russian one (of Putin). Because the Russian propaganda enjoys leading positions in Belarus today, disseminating hatred and hostility both to the neighbouring Ukraine and the Western countries.

At the same time, the scope of the aid rendered to the independent media by the European and American partners is being reduced. I agree with the human rights defender from Tajikistan who spoke at the OSCE conference today claiming the West was responsible for the severe situation with human rights in his country.

If the politicians of the European Union and the United States will rely on cooperation with the dictator and will continue to decline the aid to the democratic opposition, the civil society and the independent media, the situation in Belarus will slide to the level of the situation in Tajikistan in the near future.

The independent media of Belarus need the West’s support and solidarity. Today we appear the guarantors of not just the democratic future of Belarus, but also the security of Europe.

Let us note that a personal meeting between Natallia Radzina and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic has taken place in the framework of the OSCE conference. The parties also condemned the current situation with freedom of speech in Belarus and the threats of the Minister of Information to the independent websites.

Write your comment 14

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts