BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/01/2008

Belarus: Editor jailed for reprinting cartoons

VIENNA, 18 February 2008 -- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, today condemned the three-year high-security prison sentence handed down to Alexander Zdvizhkov, ex-deputy editor of the Zhoda newspaper, for reprinting controversial cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad originally published in a Danish newspaper.

"In 21st century Europe, it is shocking to see an editor arrested, tried behind closed doors and punished beyond any acceptable limits only for reprinting cartoons produced elsewhere and that have been published everywhere," said Haraszti.

"Persecution of journalists for trying to inform the public on important issues is a misuse of hate speech laws. In fact, the Belarus government has used the international controversy around the cartoons as a pretext to eliminate a critical voice from public life."

Zhoda was closed down by a court in March 2006 following the reprint of the caricatures, which originally appeared in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The criminal case - for 'incitement of religious hatred' - was reopened following Zdvizhkov's arrest in November 2007 after he returned to Belarus. He had lived in Russia and Ukraine for the past two years.

The leader of the Belarusian Muslim community, Ismail Voronovich, said prior to the verdict, announced on 18 January, that he had not been in favour of closing down Zhoda in 2006, and that he did not want the journalist to be punished.

Haraszti also condemned a 20 December 2007 sentence against Novy Chas, a small newspaper that has been created and produced by Zhoda's former editorial staff. The paper was ordered to pay 16,000 euros in damages to Nikolay Cherginets, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the upper chamber of parliament who is also the head of the Writers' Union, for critical comments about his political and literary activities. The paper is unable to pay the fine and will have to close.

"I see the imprisonment of Zdvizhkov, the closing of Zhoda, and the crushing fine against Novy Chas as part of a campaign against a team of independent journalists, one of the few that are still working in Belarus," Haraszti said.

"I call on the authorities of Belarus to review this harsh sentence and release Mr. Zdvizhkov."

OSCE Press release

Source:

http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=2&language_id=1&headline_id=6582