To: Alexander Lukashenko
Republic of Belarus
FAX: 011 375 172 26 06 10

June 23, 2002

Dear Mr. Lukashenko,

The International League for Human Rights, an international non-governmental human rights organization, is extremely concerned by the court decision of "guilty" handed down to Mikola Markevich, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly newspaper Pahonya, and Pavel Mazheiko, a journalist for the same newspaper. We condemn this decision as an unwarranted state interference in the freedom of the media, inconsistent with European democratic practices.

On June 23, 2002, the Leninsky district court of Minsk found the journalists guilty of libel against president Lukashenko (Art. 367 (2) of Belarus Criminal Code) and sentenced Markevich to 2.5 years of hard labor and Mazheiko to two years of hard labor.

In early September 2001, the Grodno Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case against the newspaper, confiscating its entire print run. Although the office claimed that "numerous violations of the Law on Press" were the basis for the newspaper's closure, only one official warning had been issued to Pahonya before, for publishing an appeal by an unregistered non-governmental organization. The Information Ministry, which had issued the warning, later withdrew it. Apparently mindful of the stipulation that a media outlet can be shut down only after two official warnings, the Grodno Prosecutor's Office issued a second warning for publishing materials allegedly insulting of President Lukashenko--the very charges it had brought against the newspaper in the suit earlier. The Belarusian Supreme Economic Court upheld the second warning after Pahonya's editor Mikola Markevich appealed it, and ruled to shut the newspaper down despite the still open criminal investigation of the matter and the absence of a court decision.

In addition to these sentences, reminiscent of the Soviet era, the League is gravely concerned with yet another criminal suit brought against an independent journalist and a lawsuit against an independent newspaper. Victor Ivashkevich, editor-in-chief of the Rabochy (Worker) newspaper, has recently been charged on three counts of libel against the president and is facing five years in prison. On June 18, the district court of the city of Zhodino froze the bank account of the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) newspaper, after two local judges had filed a defamation suit against the publication, demanding 265 million rubles ($1,400) in damages.

This latest crackdown against the few remaining vestiges of free media in Belarus is a fulfillment of President Lukashenko's promise made prior to the presidential elections of September 9, 2001, to "deal with independent press after the ballot."
We condemn these developments and urge you to use the power of your office to drop all criminal charges against Mikola Markevich, Pavel Mazheiko, Victor Ivashkevich and the newspaper Narodnaya Volya. We call on you to allow Pahonya and other independent media outlets to function freely and without fear of persecution, thus honoring the international commitments on freedom of expression to which Belarus is a signatory.

Sincerely,

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Executive Director