All Minsk Printing Houses Refuse to Print “Navinki”

16.10.2003.

Based on information of Radio “Liberty”

All printing houses of Minsk refused to print the “Navinki” newspaper, referring to their being technically overloaded. The edition has the contract with one of them, “Chyrvonaya Zorka” that ends on 1 December. However, the printing house authorities say that “Navinki” hasn’t been issued for several months and as a result the newspaper is not included in the plan for the 4th quarter. Pawliuk Kanavalchyk asserts that in September he warned the authorities of “Chyrvonaya Zorka” about the renewal of the newspaper issue, which was suspended for three months after two warnings of the Justice Ministry. The “BDG” newspaper was in the same situation, but managed to renew its edition immediately after the end of the three-month suspension, while “Navinki” have only recently prepared the new number.

Now the editorial staff of the only satirical edition in Belarus negotiates with Belarusian Association of Journalists to sue against this printing house.

Pawliuk Kanavalchyk thusly commented the situation: “We have the juridical right to existence and legal work, but in fact have no possibility to rent an office, print a number and officially distribute the newspaper.” He also said that in the last resort the newspaper cam be issued illegally, as it used to in the beginning. However, the editorial staff plans to fight for its rights.