Natallia Radzina Meets With Vice-President of the European Parliament

At the meeting they discussed an activity on unblocking "Charter-97".

On February 28 editor-in-chief of Charter97.org Natallia Radzina and Vice-President of the European Parliament Pavel Telička met in Brussels.

Vice-President who represents the Czech Republic and is responsible for human rights and democracy is interested in the situation with the blocking of the website in Belarus, as well as in measures MEPs can take against the blocking of a popular independent site by the Belarusian regime.

Pavel Telička drew a special attention to the fact that after the blocking of the resource in Belarus, the popularity of Russian propaganda resources significantly increased. After looking through figures, he noted that a cumulative effect was observed, when more and more Belarusians were being subject to the influence of the Russian propaganda.

At the meeting they discussed a possibility of introduction of sanctions on persons responsible for the site blocking - Minister of Information of Belarus Aliaksandr Karlyukevich, Deputy Minister of Information (Director General of Stolichnoye Televidenie TV channel) Ihar Lutski and the head of the Operative Analytical Center at the Lukashenka Administration Andrei Paulyuchenka.

The vice president wonders how the High-Tech Park can exist in Belarus, where independent sites are blocked. Natallia Radzina urged to impose economic sanctions against HTP unless pressure on independent media is stopped in Belarus.

One of leaders of the European Parliament noted that he realized the strategic meaning of the website "Charter-97" and was aware of all threats posed by its blocking.

Pavel Telička intends to send a request to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Frederica Mogherini and bring to her notice information on consequences of the blocking of "Charter-97" in Belarus, in particular, on an actual surrender of the Belarusian information space to Russia.

The Vice-President of the EP intends to initiate a number of events in the European Parliament with the involvement of representatives of "Charter-97" to draw attention to problems with freedom of speech in Belarus.

It will be recalled that two more EP Vice-Presidents from Spain and Finland - Ramón Luis Valcárcel and Heidi Hautala - made statements in support of Charter97.org.