Supreme Court upholds warning to Narodnaya Volia

On January 23, the Supreme Court dismissed the claim filed by Narodnaya Volia newspaper to the Ministry of Information. The decision was taken by judge Alena Kastrama.

Representatives of the newspaper plan to appeal against the decision, BelaPAN reports.

Narodnaya Volia wanted the warning issued on November 11 for Sviatlana Kalinkina’s article “Chained Up” to be declared invalid. The article tells about the ratification of the treaty to form the Eurasian Economic Union. The author shared her opinion about possible hidden rocks of the treaty, but the Ministry of Information regarded it as false information that deceives people.

This is the second warning issued to Narodnaya Volia in 2014. According to Andrei Bastunets, the newspaper’s representative in court, the Ministry of Information will have an opportunity to suspend the work of the newspaper if the court decision is upheld.

“If the Ministry of Information has a goal to make me write more carefully, it will not happen,” Sviatlana Kalinkina told journalists after the court decision was announced. “I will continue to write what I find necessary and socially important. If the ministry’s aim is to turn Narodnaya Volia into a newspaper that writes about gardens, it will not happen either.”