PACE can’t accept Belarus in Council of Europe due to Law on Media

The situation with freedom of mass media in Belarus is getting worse. Andrew McIntosh, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur on media freedom, told in an interview to BelaPAN. The Belarusian authorities may abandon all hopes for acceptation in the Council of Europe.
“We are concerned about the situation with media freedom in Belarus, the only European country that is not a member of the Council of Europe,” PACE rapporteur noted. According to him, a topic of media in Belarus is often put on agenda of the subcommittee of the Parliamentary Assembly.
“Representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists were present at the latest meeting last month, who told us about problems in Belarus. We also invited MP Anatol Krasutski, but he refused to attend the session,” A. McIntosh said.
Answering the question of how the Council of Europe can influence the situation with Belarusian media, the PACE representative noted, ”There is the only thing we can do, it is not to make advances to the desire Belarusian authorities to restore Belarus in the Council of Europe. It evidently, that Belarus is not a democratic country with free press, and it doesn’t meet the standards necessary for membership in the Council.”
A. McIntosh said he had heard about the adopted in Belarus Law on Media. We know that some notices of the Belarusian Association of Journalists were taken into consideration. Unfortunately, most their suggestions were rejected,” the rapporteur noted.
A. McIntosh would like to visit Belarus to learn the situation in the country. “But these decisions are taken not by me personally, but by the political committee. An invitation of the Belarusian authorities and their guarantees that we will be able to meet with everyone we want are needed for a positive decision,” the PACE rapporteur on media freedom added.
It should be reminded that the draft law on media was adopted by the Belarusian “parliament” in very short time. On 17 June the draft passed the first reading, on 24 June it was adopted in the second reading; on 28 June the draft law was approved by the upper “chamber”. Now the document should be signed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The new law will come in force six months after its official publication.
In case the present wording of the law would be adopted, an irreparable blow would be made on independent mass media, the Belarusian Association of Journalist (BAJ) thinks.
The independent journalist community is concerned about the fact all online editions which are not registered in Belarus as mass media could be blocked by the regime.
Under the draft law on mass media, the list of violations for which an official warning could be made to the editorial office, is imprecise and not defined clearly, and it is possible to suspend issuing a mass media even after one warning. And not only the Information Ministry, but any judge, prosecutor of official of any district capital could issue warnings to mass media.