1998 press releases

United States Objects to Decision by Government of Belarus to Deny Journalist Pavel Sheremet Permission to Travel to U.S. (November 23, 1998)

The United States is deeply concerned about the decision Friday by the Government of Belarus to deny journalist Pavel Sheremet permission to travel to the United States to accept an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization.

Pavel Sheremet is a citizen of Belarus who serves as Minsk bureau chief for ORT Russian television and editorinchief of the newspaper Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta. In July 1997, the Foreign Ministry suspended his accreditation to cover public gatherings. The suspension was the result of ORT covering public opposition to President Aleksandr Lukashenko's decision to move the date of Belarus independence day from July 3 to July 27.

Later that month, Sheremet and two staff members were detained by guards after filming unguarded border areas for a story on smuggling.  In January, Sheremet and his cameraman were found guilty of crossing an unguarded section of the Belarus border, "exceeding their professional rights as journalists," and "participating in a conspiracy." The court gave Sheremet a twoyear suspended sentence and barred him from traveling outside the Commonwealth of Independent States or working as a journalist until January 1999.

This October, the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that they would award Sheremet their prestigious International Press Freedom Award. Sheremet applied to the Government of Belarus for permission to travel to New York for the awards ceremony on November 24, 1998. In a letter delivered to Sheremet on Friday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed him that his request was denied and that he was forbidden to travel until January 28, l999.

The United States is deeply concerned that steps taken by the Government of Belarus against Pavel Sheremet including its prosecution of him are designed to silence reporting it does not like. In doing so, the Government is in violation of a number of international human rights instruments to which it has adhered, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Mr. Sheremet should be able to enjoy his fundamental human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to travel. The United States strongly encourages the Government of Belarus to restore immediately to Mr. Sheremet his rights and permit him to begin working as a journalist once again.