Reporters without Borders are concerned about the pressure against the Narodnaia volia

20.05.2005.

The international organization Reporters without Borders made a special statement expressing its concern over the pressure exerted by the Belarusian authorities against the independent media. The statement was released following the warning issued by the Ministry of Information to the Narodnaia volia, and legal suits filed by five workers in Salihorsk who demanded that the newspaper pay them damages for alleged libel.
The Reporters without Borders quotes the interview given by one of the claimants to Radio Liberty, who said he had filed the suit against the newspaper under the pressure from the management of the employing company.
The statement issued by the international organization quotes the words of the Narodnaia volia editor Iosif Siaredzich who thinks that "the Ministry of Information simultaneously plays the parts of an investigator, a procurator and a judge.
Mr. Siaredzich reminds that under the law the Ministry first should demand that the newspaper refute the inaccurate statement or offer its apologies. The Ministry chose to issue the warning, bypassing this required stage.
"President Lukashenka fully justifies the place on our list of enemies of the freedom of the press", says the statement issued by the Reporters without Borders.

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