Editorial Board of Vitsebski Kuryier Newspaper Isn’t Going to Leave Office

On 6 December the non-state newspaper Vitsebski kuryier received a written order to leave the rented office in Maskouski Av. 120 in Vitsebsk because of alleged law violations. The office was lent to the editorial board by the Elsan open company.

The chief editor of Vitsebski kyryier Uladzimir Bazan believes that the real reason for the eviction that the authorities fear to have an uncontrolled newspaper operating because of the upcoming election. Besides, according to Mr Bazan, the editorial board hasn’t violated any provisions of the rent agreement. At the same time, one of Elsan clients already owes 100 million rubles for rent and is not evicted.

‘We are not going to move. We simply don’t have a place where we could move to, except for living out in the street! When we moved here we purposefully looked for an organization that would have offices that aren’t a part of the dwelling fund and thus is not subordinated to Vitsebsk city executive committee. We thought we found one, but now it appears to be wrong,’ Uladzimir Bazan commented.

We should remind that this year Vitsebski Kyryier has already changed three offices: first it was evicted from the Cultural-business center Vitsebsk in which the newspaper worked for almost 10 years, than – from the taxi park, where the editorial boards rented two small rooms. In both cases the landlords refused to prolong the rent agreements. This time the rent agreement is not over, but the landlords insist on the editorial boards moving out.