English

Journalist Zdvizhkow wants to emigrate

Journalist Alyaksandr Zdvizhkow has announced plans to leave Belarus and change his citizenship, BelaPAN said.

"I do not feel safe here," he said at a news conference in Minsk on Monday. "I will breathe freely only after I live the Republic of Belarus."

"I am going to change citizenship and it is a political act for me. I do not want to be a citizen of the Republic of Belarus any longer. I am ashamed to be a citizen of a country that is ruled by the notorious person and that has such courts, prosecutors and prisons."

The deputy editor of the now-closed newspaper Zhoda had been sentenced to three years in prison last month over the reprinting of controversial Danish cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad. He was found guilty of "inciting racial, national or religious enmity or discord."

The journalist was freed from prison on February 22 after the Supreme Court mitigated his sentence, reducing it to three months. The court cited his health problems and the poor health of his elderly mother.

"I also advised my cell mates to leave the country," Mr. Zdvizhkow said. "Because a man with a document about his release from prison may be put again in custody on any occasion and on any grounds… He may be thrown behind bars for five years and more even for crossing the road in the wrong place."

Mr. Zdvizhkow said that he was a "recidivist" for the Belarusian authorities, citing proceedings that were instituted against him in 2005 for the alleged defamation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He said that the material had been enclosed with the cartoons case.

When asked about his plans, the journalist said that he was about to release his first book and was working on the second one.