International press release of World Press
Freedom Committee
June
11, 2002
SOURCE: World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), Reston
The following are
resolutions adopted at the
recent WPFC conference on Independence of the
News Media in Post-Communist
countries:
Journalists attending an
international conference on the
Independence
of the News Media in Post-Communist countries
held in Moscow, June
5-8, under the sponsorship of the World Press Freedom
Committee, the
Russian Union of Journalists and the Glasnost Defense
Foundation,
adopted the following resolutions on situations which
threaten press
freedom in a number of countries of the former Soviet
Union;
1. RESOLUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INDEPENDENCE OF THE
NEWS MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
CONCERNING REPORTING ON THE WAR
IN CHECHNYA
The latest war in
Chechnya is in its third year but its coverage in
Russia and the world media is fading. In
Russia most of the media either reflect the official government
position or are silent. The international media have let the
disturbing situation in Chechnya disappear from public
consciousness.
A precondition for
achieving peace in Chechnya is an
informed public
opinion.
We appeal to all media
to turn their attention once again
to the war
in Chechnya. In order for the war to be
covered in a full
and balanced
manner, journalists from all countries must be
allowed to
have equal
and free access
to Chechnya and Ingushetia. Laws and decrees
restricting
the gathering of
information and reporting on the situation in
Chechnya
should be removed.
The intimidation of
journalists and media organizations must cease.
Adopted by the
participants of the conference, 8 June 2002,
in Moscow.
2. RESOLUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INDEPENDENCE OF THE
NEWS MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
CONCERNING THE MOSCOW
NEWSPAPER, NOVAYA GAZETA
On the evening of June 7
2002 Moscow Court Bailiffs confiscated financial documents belonging
to the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
This action is the first step towards
confiscation of the newspaper's
property in connection with the suit by the
financial institution
Mezhprombank, which has launched the suit to
protect its honor, dignity and business reputation.
The legality of the
above court decision is extremely
questionable: it
is enough to say that this suit demands a sum
which exceeds
many times
the total sum that the Russian media was
ordered to pay for
suits in
the whole of 2001. It is clear that the
execution of the Moscow Court
decision would result in the immediate closure
of the
publication. It
seems evident that this suit is
politically-motivated, given Novaya
Gazeta's critical and independent stance.
The use of high levels of fines that are
punitive and go beyond
demonstrable damages to a plaintiff are
increasingly viewed throughout
the world as illegitimate attempts to
eliminate
inconvenient outlets.
Further, laws that
'protect honor and dignity' are ambiguous and
dangerous and
should be
repealed as soon as possible.
Adopted by the
participants of the conference, 8 June 2002, in Moscow.
3. RESOLUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INDEPENDENCE OF THE
NEWS MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
CONCERNING THE BELARUS
NEWSPAPER, PAGONYA
It is the practice of
the world's most prestigious courts and
international organizations that the
imprisonment of journalists for
their writings can never be justified.
In January 2002, the
Belarus Prosecutor General's office issued
criminal proceedings against reporter Mikola
Markevich and editor Paval Mazheika of the Hrodno-based newspaper
Pagonya for libeling
the Belarus president. The accusation is based on article 367,
part 2 of the Belarus Criminal Code, under
which the two journalists could be
sentenced to up to 5 years in jail.
On September 5 2001,
four days before the Belarus presidential
elections, law enforcement officials stopped
the presses and confiscated already printed copies of Pagonya. That
same day, the office of the Hrodno prosecutor started criminal
proceedings on the grounds that the newspaper had libeled the
Belarus president. Law enforcement officials also raided Pagonya's
editorial office and removed computers, and the Committee for
Financial Investigations took away the newspaper's entire financial
records. On
November 12 2001, the newspaper was closed by court order.
The participants of the International
Conference on the
Independence
of the News Media in Post-Communist countries
calls on the
international community
including the UN Human Rights Commission, the
Council of Europe and the
European Union to prevail upon the Belarus
authorities to
ensure that the
independent media in Belarus be treated in
accordance with
international
norms, and that the harassment of the
newspaper Pagonya and its journalists Mikola Markevich and Paval
Mazheika cease immediately.
Adopted by the
participants of the conference, 8 June 2002,
in Moscow.
4. RESOLUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INDEPENDENCE OF THE
NEWS MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
CONCERNING THE MASS MEDIA IN
UZBEKISTAN
Despite the May 12 2002
abolition of official censorship in
Uzbekistan, the true situation in the mass
media remains somber. The
press as a whole, including the Internet,
remains under absolute
government control.
There has been no investigation of the death
of the
well-known writer
Emin Usman, who died last February in a cellar
in the Interior
Ministry building. The writer Mamadali Makhmudov and
journalist Madzhid Abduraimov remain in prison.
We call on all mass media to focus their
attention on the press
freedom situation in Uzbekistan.
Adopted by the
participants of the conference, 8 June 2002,
in Moscow.
5. RESOLUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INDEPENDENCE OF THE
NEWS MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
CONCERNING THE MASS MEDIA IN
KAZAKHSTAN
Over recent months we
have seen an escalation of force against
independent media outlets in Kazakhstan. In
the past two months the following outlets have stopped operating:
the television stations TAN,
Irbis, Era, 6x6, Rika TV, the radio station
Rifma, and the
newspapers
Soldat and Respublika.
These closures bear witness to the continuing
practice in
Kazakhstan
of applying
pressure on
media outlets that are not loyal to the
authorities and on journalists who express
disagreement with government policies.
We appeal to the
following:
1. the Kazakh
authorities, that they ensure that criminal
acts against
journalists be thoroughly investigated and the
perpetrators
brought to
justice;
2. international
inter-governmental organizations (the OSCE, the
Council of Europe, the European Union), that
they turn their attention
to the worsening
freedom of speech conditions in Kazakhstan and
take
adequate measures to
ensure that the persecution of journalists in the
country ceases;
3. international NGOs,
that they give greater support to persecuted
journalists in Kazakhstan.
Adopted by the
participants of the conference, 8 June 2002,
in Moscow
For further information,
contact Marilyn J. Greene at the WPFC,
11690-C Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia
20191 U.S.A., tel: +1
703 715 9811,
fax: +1 703 620 6790, e-mail: freepress@wpfc.org,
<http://www.wpfc.org>
The information
contained in this press release is the sole
responsibility of WPFC. In citing this
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