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Supreme Economic Court suspends closure suit against Narodnaya Volya

The Supreme Economic Court of Belarus has suspended the hearing of a closure suit against Narodnaya Volya until an unspecified date, the private newspaper's lawyer, Hary Pahanyayla, told BelaPAN on Tuesday.

According to him, speaking at a preliminary hearing on May 17, Judge Alena Mayorava said that the proceedings would restart after the Court heard the newspaper's appeal against one of the information ministry's warnings that prompted the ministry to file the closure suit. Narodnaya Volya received the warning in mid-April over an article that branded Belarusian Television's documentary about the December 19 post-election protest as a Goebbels-style "propaganda masterpiece."

On April 13, a judge of the Supreme Economic Court considered a libel suit by the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company and ordered Narodnaya Volya to publish a correction of the libelous article. The newspaper appealed the ruling, and the appeal is scheduled to be heard on June 6.

“We call on the information ministry to withdraw its suit from the Supreme Economic Court and thereby terminate the proceedings, but the ministry ignores our peaceful and well-founded requests,” Mr. Pahanyayla said.