Authorities have to stop imposing restrictive measures on journalists, Dunja Mijatović reiterates

OSCE Representative claims her Office is ready to assist the authorities in any way necessary to reverse this destructive trend, as well as facilitate a dialogue of government and media on the topic.

Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media reiterated her call on the Belarusian authorities to stop persecuting members of the media, following continued and repeated intimidations of journalists for doing their job:

“The authorities have to stop imposing restrictive measures on freelance journalists, hindering them to do their job in a free and safe manner,” press service of BAJ quotes Mijatović saying. “A constructive solution to this issue should be reached.”

Let us recall that since the Representative’s latest statement on this issue in December 2014, there have been six additional cases involving freelance journalists fined for working with foreign media without accreditation: Konstantin Zhukovskiy, Inna Khomich, Ales Levchuk, Larissa Shiryakova, Tamara Shchepetkina, Alina Litvinchuk. The law enforcement officials have brought similar charges against two other freelance journalists, Alexander Denisov and Alexander Kirkevich, who may face administrative penalties soon.

“My Office stands ready to assist the authorities in any way necessary in order to reverse this destructive trend, as well as facilitate a dialogue and joint activities of government institutions and media organizations on the topic,” stressed Mijatović.

The Representative also noted the increased number of warnings issued by the Information Ministry to media outlets in recent months, in some cases related to petty offenses such as wrongly spelling name of the Ministry, using abbreviation for indicating Republic of Belarus or posting publication data on a wrong page, etc.

Official Belarusian sources state that the Information Ministry has issued 27 warnings regarding 26 media outlets in the period from January to March 2015.

Let us recall that according to the latest amendments to the law "On Mass Media” in December 2014, media outlets who receive two warnings or more from the Information Ministry, may lose their right to distribute information.