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Alert

Independent weekly threatened with closure on the eve of its 100th anniversary

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Belarusian government's repeated attempts to close down the weekly "Nasha Niva", one of the country's few independent newspapers, this time exploiting the fact that it now lacks fixed premises.

A week before the 100th anniversary of its founding, celebrated on 23 November 2006, the newspaper received a warning from the Information Ministry that the latest issue "does not mention the newspaper's current address, which violates Article 26 of the media law."

"The authorities simply want to close the newspaper down," editor-in-chief Andrei Dynko said. Reached by Reporters Without Borders, Viktor Guretski, the head of the ministry's licensing bureau confirmed that a newspaper that does not identify its legal address in its issues risks being suspended.

"Nasha Niva" has signed four rental contracts since April in its search for new premises, but each contract has subsequently been cancelled under pressure from the authorities.

"As in the case of 'Arche', a cultural magazine suspended by the Information Ministry in September, the authorities often use these practices to neutralise the independent press," Reporters Without Borders said.