31 October 2001
Supreme Economic Court throws out newspaper Brestsky Kuryer's complaint contesting State Press Committee's warning

 The Supreme Economic Court of Belarus has refused to consider the Brest-based private newspaper Brestsky Kuryer's complaint contesting the State Press Committee's warning.
The newspaper received the warning for disseminating information on behalf of unregistered organizations. The August 23 issue of Brestsky Kuryer carried a statement, in which the leaders of opposition political parties' local chapters condemned the state media for spreading lies about the opposition's presidential candidates.
The State Press Committee said that neither the Belarusian Social Democratic Party nor the United Civic Party, which signed the statement, were registered with the regional authorities, that is why they had no right to carry out activity in the region. Another signatory, the local chapter of the Belarusian Popular Front, just filed an application for registration. In its complaint, the paper argued that the statement had
been made on behalf of the regional campaign headquarters of the opposition coalition's presidential candidate, and that the individuals who had signed it had not acted on behalf of their organizations and just indicated their party affiliation.
The Supreme Economic Court rejected the complaint on the ground that it was signed by the director of the Brestsky Kuryer company, Nikolai Aleksandrov, not by the publication's chief editor as required by the media law. Mikhail Pastukhov, head of the Belarusian Association of
Journalists' Center for the Legal Protection of the Media, believes that the Supreme Economic Court refused to consider Brestsky Kuryer's complaint under a purely formal pretext. The publication intends to contest the court's decision.