Local newspaper’s registration scrapped

August 24, BPN. Privately-owned newspaper Gazeta Slonimskaya reports that the information ministry has annulled its registration certificate.

The registration of its advertising supplement Otdushina has also been revoked.

The ministry’s formal notice was received on August 23. The reason is that the papers have not been printed in the last six months.

“In mid-July 2022, the Ministry of Information asked us to clarify why the editorial office is not sending Gazeta Slonimskaya’s mandatory free copies to the ministry. The editorial office sent it an explanation that Hrodna, Brest and Pinsk printing houses had refused to print Gazeta Slonimskaya and Otdushina, citing heavy workload and dense print schedule,” the newspaper said on its website.

It was published since 2011 at a printing house in Hrodna, which was shut down last year.

Gazeta Slonimskaya and Otdushina have not been printed since November 9, 2020. On that day, police searched the home of editor-in-chief Hanna Vaładaščuk and the editorial office, seizing all equipment.

The Gazeta Slonimskaya weekly was the only independent newspaper in Słonim, Hrodna region, covering sociopolitical developments. In 2008, it received a prestigious Free Media Award (Germany). It also received the Belarusian Association of Journalists’ diploma For Dedication to Profession.

On February 7, 2022, the Ministry of Information blocked access to the newspaper’s website in Belarus.