The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has launched a campaign in support of the Belarusian-language intellectual magazine Arche, which is facing closure.
The campaign is part of the worldwide Stand Up for Journalism Campaign, which is conducted annually by the International Federation of Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists.
The current priority of the Belarusian Association of Journalists is to protect Hrodna-based journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who is accused of libeling Aliaksandr Lukashenka, and to save ARCHE, the BAJ spokesman Barys Harecki said.
The public is invited to send letters to the Financial Investigations Department of the State Control Committee, demanding that the ARCHE's bank accounts be unblocked, Harecki said.
“People may also call on the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company to stop making unfounded accusations against the magazine,” he said. “They may also write to the information ministry and the Presidential Administration and demand an end to the crackdown.”
Letters of support may also be sent directly to ARCHE, he noted.
The BAJ urges Belarusian journalists to join its campaign of solidarity with the magazine.
The crackdown on Arche began with the arrest of its then editor in chief, Valier Bulhakau, during a book-launch event in Hrodna on September 14. He was charged with illegal business activities for selling a book titled, Sovietization of Western Belarus, without a license and sentenced to a fine of 500,000 rubels ($58) a month later.
On September 21, the Financial Investigations Department started to audit the magazine's records and subsequently froze its bank accounts.
At the end of October, television channel Belarus One broadcast a report accusing the magazine of extremism and Nazi propaganda.
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