Authorities cover up black lists' compilers

Officials conceal on the basis of which document independent web-sites have been included in the list of Internet information sources with limited access.

Deputy chairman of the human rights center “Viasna” ValiantsinStefanovich wrote to different state agencies but still has not received an answer as to on the basis of the decision by which competent state body the spring96.org web-site has been listed among the internet information sources with limited access

UladzimirRabavolau, first deputy head of Lukashenka’s Operational and Analytical Center, responded to the human rights activist’s request with the statement that “the OAC does not possess the information” and advised to “address the State Supervisory Department for Telecommunications of the Republic of Belarus (SSDTRB) for the question to be considered in essence”.

Valiantsin Stefanovich did not get an intelligible answer from the SSDTRB either. Instead of the essential answer, promised by the OAC, the SSDTRB responded: “Regulatory enactments do not regulate SSDTRB’s credentials in disseminating information on the identifiers of the web-sites on the limited access list”. At the same time the enterprise provided a list of the competent state agencies, the managers of which decide, how such lists are formed: State Control Committee, Prosecutor General’s Office, the OAC, public administration offices, the Human Rights Center “Viasna” reports.

SSDTRB’s head Bahdanau suggested Valiantsin Stefanovich to send requests to all these competent agencies and then appeal against their actions in court. The human rights activist says he takes such a suggestion as an open mockery and will further address the Ministry of Information, since the response that the got from the State Supervisory Department for Telecommunications is not the answer to his question.

We would remind that the list of the “banned” internet information sources emerged according to the resolution by the OAC as of 29 June 2010. Among others there are the web-site of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, the charter97.org, web-site, Belarusian Partisan. According to Uladzimir Rabavolau, as of February this year 119 information sources were included in the list, which mainly contain pornographic and extremist materials or violate copyrights. The access to them is blocked at the facilities of state agencies, educational and cultural institutions.