Amnesty International: Call for Action
Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou, ex-deputy editor of a weekly independent newspaper, whom the organization believes to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.
On 18 January 2008 Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou was sentenced by a Minsk city court to three years in a high-security prison, having been found guilty of “inciting racial, national, or religious enmity or discord” according to Article 130.1 of the Belarusian Criminal Code. The trial was held behind closed doors.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Please send cards or letters of support and solidarity to Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou in prison. You can write in Belarusian, Russian, English or your own language. Your good wishes will be an invaluable source of support at this difficult time. If you would like to, you can send these messages in Belarusian:
I am thinking of you: Я думаю пра Вас
We are thinking of you: Мы думаем пра Вас
I am wishing you well: Я жадаю Вам усяго найлепшага
We are wishing you well: Мы жадаем Вам усяго найлепшага
Please send your greetings to:
Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou
ul. Volodarskogo, 2,
SIZO No. 8470, 1 MVD
Belarus
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible to the Belarusian authorities, in Belarusian, Russian, English or your own language:
-
calling for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoner of conscience, Alyaksandr Zdzvizhkou
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reminding the Belarusian authorities of their obligations under Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Belarus is a state party, which guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association;
Please fax or send your appeals to:
President
Alyaksandr G. LUKASHENKA
ul. Karla Marxa 38, 220016 Minsk, BELARUS
Fax: +375 172 26 06 10, +375 172 22 38 72
Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka
Procurator General
Petr P. MIKLASHEVICH
ul. Internatsionalnaia 22, 220050 Minsk, BELARUS
Fax: +375 172 26 41 66
Salutation: Dear Procurator General
International Reaction
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, condemned the three-year high-security prison sentence handed down to Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou. “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. “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 noticed. Read more here.
Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the three-year prison sentence passed today by a court in Minsk on Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou. “This sentence is extremely severe,” the press freedom organisation said. “Zdvizhkou should never have been prosecuted. It is highly likely that this was just a pretext for punishing an opposition journalist. The circumstances of his arrest reinforce that interpretation.” Read more here.
“The Danish Union of Journalists strongly opposes this attempt to limit the freedom of speech, recently exemplified by the arrest of Aleksandr Sdvizhkov when he in December returned to Minsk after a prolonged stay in Moscow. …Furthermore we condemn the closure of Zgoda by the authorities in March 2006 only three days before the presidential elections.” Read more here.
“Clearly this is just a pretext to punish an independent journalist even after shutting down his publication,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release Aleksandr Sdvizhkov.” Read more here.
Aliaksei Karol: "Disproportionate Punishment"
On March 17, 2006, the Civil Court made a decision to shut down the newspaper Zgoda. However, this did not cease the criminal case against Zgoda’s former editor, Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou. It was only temporarily suspended last summer when he stopped appearing to the questioning and became a wanted criminal. He was detained on November 18, 2007 in the city of Barysau, when he came from Moscow to visit his mother for the annual anniversary since his father’s death. The proceedings were resumed. Since the day of his arrest Aleksandr Sdvizhkov is being held in the internal KGB prison.
On January 2008, Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in a high security penitentiary, according to article 130/2 of the Criminal code of Republic of Belarus. He was charged with stirring of religious intolerance and hatred. Doing so while using his official position made the punishment more severe. This is the first time that this particular criminal article was carried out in Belarus.
As a former Editor-in-Chief of Zgoda, I believe that Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou’s sentencing astounds by its disproportionate punishment:
First, the fact that the print run of infamous issue with the cartoons has not been distributed was not taken into account. As an editor in chief, I gave an order to the public distributors to dispose of the entire newspaper circulation on the next day after it came out from the printing house. The reprint of the cartoons was done without my knowledge, and it was absolutely necessary to resolve the old problem of contradiction between the freedom of speech and religious sentiment in the latter’s favor. It was not difficult to foresee the political repercussions of the cartoon reprint on the general background of the “Cartoon war” and especially taking into account the specifics of the situation in a pending elections country.
Second, the court ignored the fact that the cartoon reprint did not have any repercussions, i.e. did not cause any escalation of inter-confessional relations or religious hatred, and did not cause any religion-based conflicts.
Third, none of the European countries witnessed the printing of the cartoon causing the punishment in the form of imprisonment of editors, even at the peak of “Cartoon war” controversy. The consequences were limited to firing of the guilty parties and suspension of the newspaper circulation. All of the aforementioned punishments were already carried out for Zgoda and Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou.
Fourth, Belarusian legislation does not qualify the reprint from another publication as a criminal act. The responsibility resides with the original publication.
Fifth, Muslim community in Belarus did not demand such cruel punishment. Moreover, they long forgave the reprint, as expressed by Imam Ismail Varanovich. They were asking to limit the punishment to giving the journalist a verbal warning.
Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou intends to appeal the court decision in the Supreme Court of Republic of Belarus. Due to this appeal, in my commentary to journalists on the court decision, I addressed the Muslim community with the request to file a written statement to the court requesting softening the punishment for Aliaksandar Zdvizhkou. This would be a priceless step for the support of accord in the Belarusian society.
The explanation of this disproportionate punishment for the crime that did not happen, lies in the general policy of the authorities, policy aimed at limiting freedom of speech and independent media in Belarus. It shows the intensification of repressions against the opposition, especially evident recently.
Committee to Protect Journalists: News Alert
New York, January 18, 2008—Minsk City Court in Belarus today imprisoned Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou, an editor at the now-shuttered independent weekly Zgoda (Consensus) newspaper, for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. Zdvizhkou was charged with “incitement of religious hatred” and sentenced to three years in a high-security prison.
Zdvizhkou was arrested on November 18 and his trial began on January 11 in Minsk, according to local news reports. He was tried behind closed doors.
“Clearly this is just a pretext to punish an independent journalist even after shutting down his publication,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou.”
Read the full text of CPJ News Alert here.
Three Years in Prison for Caricatures
Press Service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists
Today, Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou is sentenced to 3 year high security detention for “fomenting religious dissension” according to the Article 130, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. This decision was taken today by the judge of the Minsk city court Ruslan Aniskievich after having finished legal investigation concerning deputy editor of Zgoda newspaper.
Mr. Zdvizhkou refused to recognize himself guilty and will be appealing the decision at the court of the highest instance. He had time to say about his intention to journalists who were trying to talk to him after the judgment was announced.
The court decision has no legal strength yet and there is time to appeal it. In the meantime it became known that prosecutor was calling for more severe punishment of 4 years of detention.
Hearings started on January 11th and at the very beginning were open to the public. Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou challenged the jury and declared that charges put forward against him were not serious and the judge had preconceived attitude to his case.
Mr. Zdvizhkou had also time to say that he was arrested on November 18th 2007 when he came to Belarus to visit his father’s grave. Since that time he was detained in KGB prison.
The judge Aniskievich refused the challenge as being non-founded and satisfied the prosecutor’s request to continue hearings under the closed regime so that “not to hurt the feelings” of court case participants.
Let us remind that the reason for starting criminal investigation was publishing of caricatures on Prophet Muhammad in Zgoda newspaper (issue #6, 18-26.02.2006). These caricatures first published in Danish press provoked public protests in a number of Muslim countries and caused international scandal.
On February 21st 2006 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus issued a statement as regards the publication of caricatures. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns any premeditated actions, which could provoke fomenting religious dissension… distrust between national and religious communities of Belarus”,– the statement said.
On February 22nd 2006 Belarusian KGB based on the sanction of the Prosecutor General Deputy conducted a search of the newspaper Zgoda headquarters. The same day there was commenced a criminal action according to the Article 130, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (“fomenting religious dissension”). As the office of the Prosecutor General communicated to Interfaks information agency, “The criminal persecution was started as a result of examination conducted by the Prosecutor General Office and KGB. The examination was made on the basis of appeal to the law enforcement agencies submitted by the Committee on Religious Denominations and Nationalities as well as Muslim communities of Belarus”.
During the search computer discs, other data media, some issues of the newspaper and some finance documents were confiscated. The founder of the newspaper Aliaksei Karol and Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou were questioned in KGB. The apartment flat of Mr. Karol was searched either. According to Mr. Karol the caricatures were published without his permission. The editor-in-chief deputy was punished and the dissemination of the issue was stopped.
On February 23 2006 the Prosecutor General Office sent a communication to the Ministry of Information requesting it to take measures to suspend or stop the publication of the non-State newspaper Zgoda. According to the head of Law, Information and PR Department of the Prosecutor General Office the editorial board of the newspaper violated the Article 5 of the Law on Press and Other Media of the Republic of Belarus, which forbids using mass media for fomenting national, social, race and religious intolerance.
The same day the Ministry of Information made a notice to the newspaper in line with Article 5 of the Law on Press and Other Media of the Republic of Belarus for publishing caricatures on Prophet Muhammad. That was the second notice for violating the Article 5 of the Law mentioned.
On March 6th 2006 The Ministry of Information appealed to the Supreme Economic Court to stop the activities of the newspaper. The appeal said that was the repeated violations by the editorial board of the Article 5 of the Law mentioned were the reason to do that. Moreover, the Ministry asked to suspend the newspaper’s publication without waiting for court’s examination because “respondent can violate the Law on Press” during the period prior to the case examination in the court.
On March 7th 2006 the judge of the Supreme Economic Court Aksana Mihniuk decided to satisfy the solicitation and to suspend the publication of the newspaper prior to any decision being the result of court examination.
On March 17th 2006 the same judge Mrs. Mihniuk took a decision to stop the newspaper’s activities. In the meantime the period allocated by the Law to appeal a decision as for the second notice was not over.
In March 2006 the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus started the criminal persecution of deputy editorof the Zgoda newspaper Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou for having published caricatures on Prophet Muhammad. However, the case was suspended due to the fact that investigating authority did not manage to elucidate the location of the accused. At the beginning of January 2008 it became known that Mr. Zdvizhkou was arrested and pup in prison.
Zgoda’s Criminal Case Resumed
RFE/RL reports that Minsk city court resumed criminal case against the former deputy editor in chief of newspaper Zgoda Alyaksandar Zdvizhkou.
He is accused of stirring religious hatred. The editor in chief of Zgoda, Aliaksei Karol received information from the Minsk city court that Zdvizhkou is under arrest.
On December 31, 2007 the former editor in chief Aliaksei Karol received an order to appear as a witness in the case against his former deputy.
Karol: “This case was started after Zgoda published the infamous cartoons about prophet Mohammed. That was in February 2006. On March 17th that year Zgoda was closed down by the Supreme Economic Court. A criminal case on the publication of cartoons was started, investigation initiated and there was a search in my apartment, which served also as the de facto editorial office.Because during the investigation the main suspect was considered to be Zdvizhkou the case was suspended, when he disappeared from Minsk and from Belarus. A search was declared.
The case was submitted to court but was suspended there due to the absence of the main suspect. On December 31, 2007, I received an order to appear in court at 2 pm on January 11, 2008 as a witness. I know that same orders were also received by several former employees of Zgoda editorial offices. Until then I did not know where Zdvizhkou was as nobody spoke to me about it, but I knew that there was a search.
At that time I had to explain (the case was quite noticed) that Zdvizhkou made the decision to print those cartoons on his own, without checking with me. I then suspended the paper’s publication. In essence, it was a question of freedom of speech vs. feelings of the faithful. I made my choice in favor of the religious feeling, it was not a political moment when it was necessary to reprint those cartoons.
But almost two years have passed, and it is clear that that publication did not and could not stir any religious or national hatred. And so I would like to hope that the court will end up with the release of Zdvizhkou.”
According to article 130 part 1 Criminal Code “Stirring of Religious Hatred” Alyaksandar Zdvizhkou is facing up to five years of imprisonment. Zgoda was a predecessor of the newspaper Novy Chas.
Mikalai Charhinets Will Keep an Eye on the Press
Belarusian Association of Journalists reports that general and an MP Mikalai Charhinets doesn’t exclude that he may sue the media outlets that cited the arguable article “General–Senator Mikalai Charhinets” by Alaksandr Tamkovich in their publications. He made the statement during his press-conference on January 3, 2008.
M. Charhinets showed a large pile of printouts from the Internet and copies of publications, where journalists cited different parts of the article. The politician believes some statements in the press, related to the claim, may deserve separate trials. However, reportedly, he hasn’t addressed to the court yet and made up his mind to keep and eye on the press in the meantime.
Among other, M. Charhinets noted that the sum of his moral damages was “normal for such a newspaper”.
It should be reminded that the Piershamayski City District Court of Minsk decided to exact 50 million Belarusian rubles from the “Novy Chas” weekly publisher and 1 million Belarusian rubles from the author of the arbitrary publication Alaksandar Tamkovich as moral damages to Mikalai Charhinets.
The judge Alena Ananich found a range of quotations from the article “General–Senator Mikalai Charhinets” by Alaksandr Tamkovich contrary to fact and offensive. The publication appeared on pages of “Novy Chas” independent weekly on September 24, 2007 (No.25).
Moreover, the court obliged the defendants to refute the facts, distributed in the article, to express apologies to M. Charhinets and reimburse all litigation expenses within the case.
During one of press-conferences at the beginning of December 2007, M. Charhinets declared that he was not interested at all in the further fate of the periodical edition.
Christmas in the Courtroom
Dear Friends –
Happy Holidays! In Belarus, where celebration of the New Year is still more popular than Christmas, it is a tradition to use this last week of the year to look back at the 12 months gone by, putting things into perspective and thinking about the year in front.
2007 was in many ways a turning year for Belarus. The unique economic system that has made the Lukashenka regime possible, and in its own measure, successful for the last 14 years has finally started to break. Russian subsidies, amounting to over $8 billion a year, were creating an “economic miracle” out of an outdated and inefficient socialist state. Take any country and give it one fifth of its economy for free, and it too would indeed have an economic miracle!
In 2007, some of these subsidies were finally stopped. Not all, but however little the leadership in Moscow found the guts to withdraw, immediately showed to the world and to the Belarusians, what their “miracle” was really about. And the regime immediately got nervous. It begged for credit, and free oil, as far as the distant Venezuela. It tried to enter into strategic agreements with Iran. It received some gifts from the ever cunning China. But none of that would have any chance of plugging the multibillion black whole that, if not covered, would crush this regime in less than a year. Then the regime started smiling at Europe. In the last couple of months it even seemed possible, for the first time, that a political thaw could occur, and the small country bordering the world’s most prosperous alliance would finally turn its face to Europe.
Alas. With the closing of the year came the farce of the Novy Chas trial, a similar trial in Krychev, new one year and a half sentence to Artur Finkevich (on December 19th, the same day with the Novy Chas trial), beatings on the Square… And 15 days arrests have become something as common as a ride in a public bus down a newly renamed Minsk avenue.
The president then told El Pais that Europe’s simple conditions of cooperation are not reasonable. In his mind, people should be giving 8 billion a year simply for his smiles (this is more expensive than the smile of any supermodel, and a lot less sexy). To him, Belarus should get European support simply for fulfilling its contractual obligations and transporting Russian gas and oil to the EU without interruption. The message is clear – no change is forthcoming. And with Russia again taking Belarus under its wing, albeit on new terms, at year end, it may become still more distant.
But the regime will be forced to continue to play Europe’s hand. So our particular thanks go to Javier Solana for his personal support of the Novy Chas, political prisoners and freedoms in Belarus. It was also effective, proving that the EU’s simple course – cooperation under 12 conditions – in combination with US tough policy towards the regime in Belarus is indeed correct. We also thank the CPJ, a private organization whose statement reached the gray walled Minsk court on the day of the trial and helped mitigate the sentence.
Meanwhile, six our friends are spending this Christmas in prison. Let’s remember them amid the warmth of fireplaces, candle lit tables or snowy ski slopes – wherever we find ourselves this magical time.
Thanks and best wishes from Belarus.
Puppet Justice
And so it went – a puppet court protecting an unelected member of a puppet parliament. Welcome to Belarus, a country where the time stood still. During the run up to this ridiculous trial we were trying to give you, our friends and people who are not indifferent to freedom in Belarus, accurate fact-based updates. Now, however, we allow ourselves a few comments.
- First of all, we thank all our friends, in and outside Belarus, for their support – international solidarity was amazing and effective. It clearly raised awareness about the regime’s repression against independent media and is a good model to be used in future cases of repression
- The fine against Alexander Tamkovich was significantly reduced from $50,000 to $500. If not professional support provided by the lawyers from Belarusian Association of Journalists, solidarity with Novy Chas of all independent media in Belarus and international campaign, the suit would have been satisfied as claimed
- The damages against the paper were reduced from $250,000 to $25,000 – this is still enough to put it out of business, but at least is a sign that this repression shouldn’t be just accepted
- International attention is drawn to the true situation in Belarus, just as its government is trying to become friendly with Europe
- Using the same tactics against remaining independent publications might be more difficult
- There is a clear demonstration that the Civil Code of Belarus actually reads “any criticism of public officials, grounded in facts or not, no matter how harsh or soft, is punishable by heavy fines.” Public officials in Belarus are beyond criticism
- Charhinets’ (Cherginets) honor went down in price tenfold. Do you know anybody else whose honor is more volatile than the global stock markets?
- When the article came out, less than 10,000 readers read about Charhinets. All of them were in Belarus and very few in position of authority. Many of them already knew what he was about. Now thousands of people outside Belarus know who he is, and what he is worth – and we don’t mean 25,000 dollars.
Of course, we hoped for, but did not expect, a different result. How could this court dismiss the frivolous suit of a man who received “The KGB Medal” on the day of the trial? Doing so would mean that the regime officials are no longer protected from public scrutiny. And without this shield, they would fall – if Belarus were a normal country, they would have not become senior officials. For they do not know how to work on real issues – the only know how to survive in the world of servitude, betrayal and indignity.
In Belarusian, there is a saying “about the dead say either good things or nothing.” Apparently, Charhinets (Cherginets) wants the same treatment. Perhaps he is right –hundreds of other servants of a zombie regime are already dead.
Head of Belarusian Muslims: "I would release the editor of Zgoda"
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The head of the spiritual body of Belarusian Muslims Ismail Varanovich told the correspondent of «Euroradio» that he was actually defending the editor of Zgoda in court. Mr. Varanovich is speaking about how he was shown the caricature in the Committee on Religious Issues and why the notorious article should be viewed as mere information on what was published in the European press.
-You probably know that Mensk City court has sentenced journalist Zdzvizhkou to three years of imprisonment for an attempt to reprint the caricatures on Prophet Mohammad…
-I was a witness and testified at the process. I tried to mitigate the sentence. Zdzvizhkou thanked me for that — as much as he could…
-Do you believe the sentence is too severe?
-Of course I do! I asked the court for lenience. All the more that he did not make calls to commit any crime. This was a way of informing people about what was published in Danish newspapers. That was how I addressed the issue. I believe that no excesses or public resonance with relation to the caricatures were possible in our society.
-Did Zdzvizhkou apologize to you in court?
-Yes, he did. He also asked the forgiveness of all the Belarusian Muslims for the publication.
-If you were to decide, would you pardon Zdzvizhkou?
-Yes, certainly. It might be that I complicated the situation with the authorities who were conducting the investigation.
-What makes you think so?
-Well, maybe the authorities believed that I would say different things, be on the other side. Probably, I acted contrary to what they expected…
-Do you know the reaction of Belarusian Muslims on the publication?
-They did not even get to know about it. When I was shown it I had to write a letter, to react somehow. I was told about it as a head of the spiritual body of Belarusian Muslims.
-Where did you send the letter?
-To the same body where I was shown the publication — the Committee on Religion and Nationalities Issues.
-Did you express indignation?
-I was forced to do that as it was presented to me in that way.
-Were you not shown the newspaper?
-No, they did show it to me. These were the copies and they gave them to me.
-And were caricatures there? I am asking that because no one seems to have seen this newspaper except for you and a couple more people…
-Well, yes. However, I notified our communities. I warned them not to react if they somehow received the publications. That was only the information about what was published in European newspapers. That is how it I presented it and there was no resentment from the side of our communities.
-The editor of Zgoda newspaper addressed Muslims to save Zdzvizhkou from prison…
-We need to assess the situation. Assess the general atmosphere. Think how that will impact us. We are a minority, we, Muslims, are few in Belarus. That is why we need to be very cautious.
-Can you remember how many Danish journalists were sentenced for publishing the caricatures?
-I give you my word that I do not know that. They demanded capital punishment for the author. I honestly do not know the end of the story. It was so long ago that I cannot recollect it now. As for Zdzvizhkou, when I saw him behind the bars I felt sorry for him. He is so thin and small… I swear I felt sorry for him… If I only could, I would make him go, but that is not in my power. Do you see what I mean?! I did my best to ease his fate.
Written by novychas2
January 21, 2008 at 9:43 am
Posted in Commentary