English

Attempt to close Nasha Niva, Narodnaya Volya harms public interests, editor says

A judge of the Supreme Economic Court on May 18 held a session to set the date of a hearing on the information ministry’s warning against the private pro-opposition newspaper Nasha Niva.

The judge ruled that the proceedings shall begin on May 30.

The ministry issued the warning to Nasha Niva for its coverage of last month`s subway bombing in Minsk.

In particular, the ministry was outraged at the newspaper`s false report that a young woman injured in the bombing was allegedly pulled from the rubble in the Kastrychnitskaya station five hours after the attack. According to the ministry, the report harmed public interests and discredits authorities, including government agencies, rescue and medical services that were involved in providing help to the bombing casualties.

Later, the ministry filed a closure suit against the newspaper.

At the session on Wednesday, the judge rejected the newspaper’s request to invite a linguist to give an expert opinion on the story in question.

“It is their attempt to close the newspapers Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya that seriously harms the interests of the public and discredits the authorities to a certain degree,” Nasha Niva Editor Andrey Skurko commented to BelaPAN.