Are letters to “Narodnaya Volia” censored?

Salihorsk-based civil activist Mikalai Sharavar thinks that the Belarusian post can censor the letters that are sent to the editorial office of the private newspaper “Narodnaya Volia”.

“I am a regular reader of “Narodnaya Volia”. Some time ago I noticed that my letters reached the editorial office with a delay. “I even started sending letters with registered mail, but nothing changed. At the same time, letters to the non-political edition “Nasha Slova”, which is located as far away as Lida, get there for a couple of days,” commented the activist.  

According to the Belarusian legal norms, a simple letter would be delivered in Belarus within no more than three days.

Mr. Sharavar thinks that the delays are not occasional. First of all, if the letters come late, the information may lose its topicality, as it doesn’t reach the editorial office by the time a new issue is published. Secondly, secret services get several days for censoring the information which gets to the largest independent edition in the country.