Novychas2’s Weblog

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 17^th 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.