OSCE Media Representative concerned about deportation of journalist from Belarus

VIENNA, 23 June 2004 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, has expressed his serious concern about the decision on 21 June by the Belarusian security services, the KGB, to deport Mihail Padalyak, a journalist from the independent newspaper Vremya and a Ukrainian citizen.

"I am seriously concerned by this case for several reasons," Mr Haraszti wrote in a letter addressed to the Belarus Foreign Minister. "The deportation is happening admittedly to silence critical voices in the media. It is taking place outside the judicial process, with no apparent right of appeal against this arbitrary decision. And it is unacceptable on humanitarian grounds as Mr Padalyak's wife lives in Belarus and is a citizen of your country."

"This latest case is just one more in a pattern of harassment of media reported to my Office over the past several months," Mr. Haraszti wrote.

The official reason for the deportation of Mr. Padalyak given by the KGB was that his newspaper "reported in a biased fashion on the political and social developments in the Republic of Belarus."

The decision to deport the journalist was made under Sub-Article 2 of Article 25 of the Law On the legal status of foreign citizens and people without citizenship, living on Belarus' territory and on the Regulations on the order of deportation of foreign citizens and people without citizenship.

Mr. Padalyak has been barred from entering Belarus for the next five years.