Belarus News
Electronic Communications - US Department of State
Operation Predator logo Austria, United States Jointly Investigate Child PornographyLeads from United States result in search warrants by Austrian authoritiesAustrian authorities are cooperating with the United States in a massive investigation ... [Read More]
Belarus
The newspapers and other print media with the largest circulation were state-owned, although there also were a number of independent publications, some of which were critical of the regime. Independent newspapers were available widely in Minsk, but outside of the capital, variety was limited to the state-run national newspaper and local newspapers, only some of which were independent. ... During the year, the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya was sued by several individuals following its publication of articles they claimed to be libelous. In June a Minsk city court temporarily froze the bank account of Narodnaya Volya, after two judges in Zhodino filed a libel suit against the newspaper for an article considered to be libelous. On September 20, a Minsk court ordered the confiscation of approximately $2,630 (5 million rubles) worth of Narodnaya Volya's equipment as a settlement for another libel suit that was brought by another judge. However, on December 25, the General Prosecutor's Office rejected a request by Leonid Kozik, Chairman of the Belarusian Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), to close the newspaper following the newspaper's publication of an article critical of an FTUB meeting. ... [Read More]
News from Washington - U.S. Department of State
News from Washington Rice Sees Progress on North Korea, Other Issues from Asian TripSecretary says Pyongyang must make a strategic choice on nuclear weaponsReturning to the United States from a five-day visit to East Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells reporters that the trip produced positive results “on a number of issues of interest," but particularly on the concentrated effort to break a long impasse in the Six-Party Talks on eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula. (complete text) [Read More]
Belarus
In February, the Grodno Regional Economic Court ruled that the publisher of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni, Romulad Ulan, had violated tax, safety, and labor regulations following a 2002 inspection by the State Control Committee (SCC) of the newspaper. Ulan was stripped of his status as an individual entrepreneur. On April 26, a court in Smorgon fined Nikolai Slizh, a farmer who began to publish the newspaper from his farm, approximately $120 (240,000 rubles) for illegally printing the newspaper, and ordered the seizure of all profits generated through the sales of the newspaper. Following the court's ruling, the Lida branch of the Belarusian Language Society published the newspaper until July, when Ulan's wife took over as publisher of the newspaper. On October 2, the Ministry of Information suspended publication of the newspaper for up to 3 months alleging that Ulan's wife had no right to engage in publishing activities, despite existing legislation tha ... [Read More]
New Adoption Policy in Belarus
U.S. Department of State [Read More]
Important Notice Regarding Adoptions in Belarus
U.S. Department of State [Read More]
2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Belarus
The Government levied fines against newspapers, journalists, and editors as another way to stifle the independent press. In the case of Narodnaya Volya, the country's only independent daily, the courts imposed huge libel fines against the newspaper, a journalist, and the person interviewed, for a story that criticized a government official. In a separate case, Narodnaya Volya was fined for libeling a progovernment businessman. In August, the courts seized most of Narodnaya Volya's property until these two large libel fines were paid a short time later. In November, the deputy editor of the newspaper fled the country and sought political asylum abroad. According to the BAJ, independent newspapers, especially in the provinces, engaged in self censorship due to the Government's use of the libel laws to fine journalists and editors. On May 26, the government owned Minsk publishing house Svetoch phoned the editor of Mestnaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper, to demand that an article about ... [Read More]
International Adoption Belarus
U.S. Department of State [Read More]
Belarus (10/04)
Government restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religions continued in 2003 and 2004. Efforts to further infringe upon press freedoms included the continued use of libel laws, limitations on foreign funding, pressure on businesses not to advertise with independent media, limitations on access to newsprint and printing presses, censorship, restrictions on the import of media-related materials, temporary suspension of independent and opposition periodicals, and detention of those distributing such material. The government continued to make use of its monopoly on television broadcasting to present biased news coverage and to minimize the presentation of opposing points of view. On September 9, 2003 President Lukashenko called upon mass media to be used as an instrument for promoting a pro-government state ideology. Additionally, although several Internet service providers have emerged in Belarus, they are all state-controlled. Despite constitutional prov ... [Read More]
Belarus
U.S. Department of State [Read More]
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