Independent Paper Disputes Warning of Information Ministry in Court
The non-state newspaper Narodnaya Volya appealed to the Supreme Court against the warning that the Ministry of Information had issued to the outlet last autumn.
Photo by Telegraf.by
The warning concerned the article by Sviatlana Kalinkina dated October 2, 2014 (full text in the archive). The publication was the author’s opinion on ratification by Belarus of the treaty on setting up the Eurasian Economic Community. The journalist emphasized that Belarus gets enchained if it joins the treaty and it will be hard, in fact impossible, for the country to leave the union at its own will. The Ministry of Information disagrees on this point with the journalist, so it issued a warning to the newspaper. The editorial office, in their turn, decided to dispute the warning in court.
Sviatlana Kalinkina, photo by Radio Svaboda
The first hearing took place on January 14 when both sides were able to voice their standings.
The Ministry of Information was represented by Yuliya Kochyna, head of mass media registration section, and Viktoryja Mialeshka, head of the legal and HR department.
They presented a conclusion on the EurAsEc, made upon their request by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They underlined that the Ministry thought that the article by Sviatlana Kialinkina not only inflicted harm to state and public interests, but also discredited the foreign policy of Belarusian state. Also, before the hearing the Ministry of Information had sent a response to the article, so the court and the editorial office took time to get familiarized with it.
The next hearing will take place next week, the date to be scheduled soon.
Narodnaya Volya is a leading print independent newspaper with circulation of 27 000 copies, published two times a week. It has had troubles with printing and distribution of print newspaper, its journalists endured searches and seizures of equipment. In 2011, the Ministry of Information sued to close the newspaper in the Supreme Court, but the case was dismissed (two warnings may become grounds for closure, more about it on Wikipedia). In 2014 its journalist Maryna Koktysh won a case with the UN HRC deciding Belarus violated the journalist’s right to seek and impart information.