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Alert

Independent daily ordered to pay damages to finance minister, faces possible closure

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has condemned the use of "spurious pretexts" by Belarusian authorities with the intent of closing down the national sports daily "Pressbol", one of the few remaining independent newspapers in the country, with a circulation of 25,000 copies.

On 16 February 2005, the Supreme Court upheld a second Information Ministry warning to the newspaper that would allow the authorities to order its closure within three months. Meanwhile, on 10 February, the Minsk Municipal Court confirmed that "Pressbol" must pay 16,000 euros (approx. US$20,900) in libel damages to Finance Minister Nikolai Korbut. The decision will effectively ruin the paper, even without the closure order, RSF noted.

"The use of spurious pretexts allows the authorities to progressively reduce the space for expressing views that do not conform to the thinking of President Alexander Lukashenko," RSF said. "President Lukashenko would do well to respect press freedom in Belarus instead of accusing the international press, both western and Russian, of waging a campaign against him."

On 4 January, a Minsk court ordered "Pressbol" to pay Korbut 16,000 euros in damages as a result of a libel action the minister had brought over an October 2004 article headlined, "Belarusian finance minister wanted by Interpol and implicated in organising a criminal gang". The article claimed Korbut had links with shady Russian businessman Andrei Imanali.

On 5 January, "Pressbol" received a second warning from the Information Ministry after printing a statement by Korbut in its 21 December issue, in which the minister explained his reasons for suing "Pressbol". According to the ministry's warning, the newspaper failed to obtain judicial authorisation before publishing the statement.