Belarusian Procurator's Office issued a warning to Iryna Khalip for the publication of the article "Time to Dispose of Rake" in the Novoia gazeta, Russia.

27.09.2005.

At the start of August the article entitled "Time to Dispose of Rake" was published by the Novaia gazeta with a question "Will there be a revolution in Belarus?" In the article the journalist Iryna Khalip analyzed the situation in Belarus in the run-up to the presidential campaign. The article author concluded that the Belarusian authorities would change as a result of a street revolution.
The procurator's office assessed the journalist's opinion as a call to the destabilization of the public order and change of the constitutional regime of the Republic of Belarus using illegal methods. Iryna Khalip was summonsed to the constitutional rights department of the Republican Procurator's Office, where she was read a warning.
In Iryna Khalip's opinion, this situation confirms the conclusions of the article: "My warning is very indicative because it shows that the authorities are well aware of how it will be changed. I just voiced what everyone already knows. Too bad, the officers of the Belarusian Procurator's Office are not very well educated. They would not even think of issuing a warning to, for example, the New York Times or the Washington Post. While articles printed in the Russian press cause them to respond in a very strong way."
Iryna Khalip is the first to receive a warning for her article. Earlier the procurator's office tended to launch criminal proceedings. The journalist had been called for talks, however everything went off fine.
Sviataslau Harelik, a representative of the department, warned the journalist the in the event of new articles of the same sort the procurator's office would assess them as calls to overthrow of the government. According to the criminal code, this may lead to one to five years in prison.

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