Andrzej Poczobut: Authorities don’t want information about political prisoners in press

• 5.03.2009, 13:06

Alyaksandr Lukashenka wants to improve relations with the West, but doesn’t want to change anything in the country, thinks Andrzej Poczobut, correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza.

The journalist told it the Charter’97 press center, commenting on depriving him of accreditation by the Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Belarus.

“I was given accreditation four months ago, when Lukashenka was trying to demonstrate the so called liberalization policy to the West. What we see now is arrests of entrepreneurs Autukhovich, Lyavonau, and Asipenka, prosecution of young people in the case of 14, dispersals of peaceful rallies on February 14 and 16 by riot militia, provocations against leadership of the independent Union of Poles of Belarus. In this context deprival of accreditation demonstrates: Lukashenka wants to improve relations with the West, but doesn’t want to change anything in the country,” he noted.

In his articles Andrzej Poczobut tells about political prisoners, enforced fingerprinting, deportation of Polish priests, and Lukashenka’s dialogue with the West. The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affaires didn’t like this information.

“Lukashenka said he wanted to have “a dialogue with the EU without mediators”. He probably considers mediators the Belarusians, who are seeking for respect of their rights. In one of my articles, which evoked claims of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I wrote about political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich, about why he is being persecuted. Of course, the authorities don’t want this information in press, they are trying to suffocate freedom of speech in Belarus,” Andrzej Poczobut thinks.

The correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza noted that he would go on his activity without accreditation.

“As far as I know, it has been the first case since the new Law on Media was adopted. Let’s see the developments. Depriving journalists of accreditation the authorities think they will stop their activity. but this won’t happen – I will go on working without accreditation,” Andrzej Poczobut said.