🚀 go-pugleaf

                        RadioAction Alert

                Authorities Close Radio 101.2 in Belarus

MINSK, BELARUS -- Radio 101.2 in Minsk was forced off the air on
August 31, one day after receiving notification from the Belarus
Ministry of Communication stating that it was interfering with
government frequencies. Radio 101.2 had been legally broadcasting
on the frequency since July 1995.

The August 30 notice was the first indication of any problem.
Radio 101.2 denies that its transmitter caused any interference
and points out that the transmitter's maintenance has been the
responsibility of the state organisation, the Republic Radio and
TV Transmitting Centre. The government has not offered a
replacement frequency.

Radio 101.2 is a member of the World Association of Community
Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and is the only independent community
radio station broadcasting in Belarus in the Belorussian language.
In a letter to AMARC Radio 101.2 director, Zhanna Litvina, writes:

        We believe that it is no coincidence that we are ordered to stop
        broadcasting on the eve of...a referendum and by-elections to the
        Parliament of Belarus. We consider this closure a part of a large-
        scale campaign opened by the state authorities against the
        independent media of Belarus.

The closure of Radio 101.2 comes at the same time as five of the
country's leading independent weeklies have had their bank
accounts frozen in an act that observers say supports Radio
101.2's assertion that there is a government campaign against the
independent media.

Radio 101.2 and AMARC's Solidarity Network requests that faxes of
support be sent to the president of Belarus:
        His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko
        Fax: +375-172 23 58 25
        Minsk 220010, Belarus

Your faxes should demand:
        1)  that the station be allowed to return to the airwaves, either
        on the frequency of 101.2 FM or on a new frequency with
        similar coverage;
        2)  that the government respect the right to communicate;
        3)  that regulations governing the electronic media be liberalised.

Messages of support can be sent to Radio 101.2 at fax: +375-172 34
9754 or by email to kmm@itv.belpak.minsk.by

Please send copies of your faxes to AMARC's Solidarity Network at
the address below.

        ==================================

        The Solidarity Network is an initiative of AMARC,
the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters

        For more information about AMARC or the
                Solidarity Network, contact us at:

        3575 St-Laurent Boulevard, Suite 611
        Montreal, Quebec H2X 2T7   Canada
        Fax +1-514-849-7129  -- Telephone: +1-514-982-0351
        E-mail: amarc@web.net   --   http://www.web.net/amarc
        ==================================