Babruisk Branch of Mahiliousaiuzdruk Refuses to Sell Bobruyskiy Kurier

According to the BAJ press service

Babruisk branch of Mahiliousaiuzdruk refuses to sell in its kiosks a non-state newspaper Bobruyskiy kurier. ‘The sale agreement will be cancelled since 1 February 2007 due to low demand of the edition’, states the official letter, signed by the chair of Babruisk Mahiliousaiuzdruk branch T.Bezhaleva.

T.Bezhaleva also informed the chief editor of the newspaper Anatol Sanatsenka that it was prohibited to conclude sale agreement with the editions which manage to sell less than 5 000 copies per month at Saiuzdruk kiosks. However, according to Belsaiuzdruk accountancy, in September 2006 there were sold 4 251 copies, in October – 4 046 and in November – 6 486. Besides, there are many state newspapers that sell fewer than 5 000 copies as well.

That’s why Anatol Sanatsenka considers this step as a manifestation of economical smothering of independent press in Belarus.

We should remind that at the beginning of 2006, on the eve of the presidential election the state enterprise Belsaiuzdruk refused to sell a number of national and regional non-state editions. More than a half of such editions were also excluded from the state subscription catalogue. In 2006 Belsaiuzdruk refused to resume cooperation with the mentioned newspapers. This year the enterprise has cancelled a distribution agreement with Niasvizhski chas non-state newspaper.