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LUKASHENKO TIGHTENS SCREWS ON MEDIA

As Belarusians vote in a referendum this week to decide whether President Alexander Lukashenko can seek a third term in office in 2006, IFEX members are calling attention to serious restrictions on press freedom in the country.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) have expressed alarm at government orders that have suspended 10 independent newspapers in the past two months.

The suspensions target publications that are known for their criticism of Lukashenko. WAN and RSF say the aim is to suppress criticism of the president, whose iron-fisted rule over the past ten years has been criticised by the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

On 5 October 2004, the newspaper "Nedelya" was suspended for three months. No explanation was given. A week earlier, "Narodni Predprinimatel" and "Regionalniye Vedomosti" were suspended on "administrative irregularities." Other newspapers that have been suspended include "Regionalnaya Gazeta," "Navinki," "Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni," "Rabochaya Solidarnost," "Vremia," "Lyuboi Kapriz" and "Allo! Kuplyu."

The constitution of Belarus currently bars the president from seeking a third term in office. Lukashenko has used a referendum once before to extend his rule. In 1996, he successfully extended his first five-year term by two years to 2001. He was then re-elected to a second term in a poll that international observers said was undemocratic.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the country's state-owned media act as mouthpieces for Lukashenko's authoritarian policies, often discrediting political opponents and arguing that political and media restrictions are necessary to maintain political stability. Journalists who question state policies are often punished by the courts, while independent newspapers have to pay exorbitant printing and distribution fees.

Visit:

- WAN: http://www.wan-press.org/article5526.html
- IPI: http://www.freemedia.at/Protests2004/Belarus04.10.04.htm
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=11510
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/attacks03/europe03/belarus.html
- OSCE: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/field_activities/?election=2004belarus
- Council of Europe: http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Press/StopPressView.asp?CPID=1569
- BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3736312.stm