Posts Tagged ‘Eastern Europe’
March 23rd, 2010
Belarus’s Supreme Court has stripped the Belarusian Association of Journalist’s (BAJ)
ability to offer protection to journalists who are not officially authorised, such as opposition newspapers, websites and foreign news outlets.These journalists could now face 15 days in jail. BAJ president Zhanna Litvina said yesterday that this will discourage independent media coverage in the run-up to the elections. This comes a week after Charter97, an opposition website and are a nominee for this year’s
Index On Censorship Freedom of Expression awards had its
offices raided and its head of press beaten.
February 16th, 2010
Andrei Soldatov reveals that the Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, has granted the same office that responds to journalists requests licence to search their homes, wiretap them and place them under surveillance
(more…)
February 15th, 2010
Sergei Shvedko, chief editor of the Rodnoye Priyapovye, is to go on trial for expressing doubts that the
Holodomor — the 1930s famine in which millions of Ukranian starved to death because of the policies of Joseph Stalin — was genocide aimed against the Ukrainian people. Former President Yushchenko’s “Our Ukraine” party bought about the
legal action claiming Shvedko denigrated Ukrainians’ dignity, dishonoured of the memory of the famine’s victims and denied the famine was genocide.
Holodomor denial outlawed in Ukraine.
February 11th, 2010
Police have
seized a Polish cultural centre in the town of Ivyanets outside Minsk.
An activist who was travelling to the centre has also been detained. President Lukashenko claimed in 2005 the organisation responsible for the centre was trying to destabilise his regime and set up a government-approved alternative. Both the
EU and the
US have condemned the actions. There are around 400,000 Poles in Belarus. Belarus has also recently
detained 20 activists demonstrating in support of political prisoners.
February 8th, 2010
Valentin Ceausescu is seeking to ban a play on the trail and execution of the former dictator.
“The Last Hours of Ceausescu“, written by Milo Rau, depicts the 1989 trial and execution of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife. Valentin’s lawyer said that the plaintiff is seeking to prevent his parents’ names being ridiculed. Valentin registered the
“Ceausescu” trademark two years ago, meaning the name could no longer be used for commercial purposes without his consent.
February 8th, 2010
Web users will be forced to show their
passports or other ID before using Belaruse’s internet cafes from July 1. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s decree also requires ISPs to store data on individuals’ web usage for a year and to hand that information over to law enforcement agencies upon request.
Lutz Guellner, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, condemned the decree for further restricting free expression in Belarus.
May 20th, 2009
International Media Support is committed to freedom of expression and supports local media in countries affected by armed conflict, human insecurity and political transition. IMS activities cover three thematic areas of engagement. In addition to media and conflict, IMS is engaged in media and democracy activities in countries in transition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and in media and dialogue activities mainly covering the Arab world and Iran.
