The Danish Union of Journalists is deeply concerned with the trial against Aleksandr Sdvizhkov

Danish Union of Journalists

The Danish Union of Journalists is deeply concerned with the trial currently being held against Aleksandr Sdvizhkov which constitutes a serious attack on the freedom of the press. Mr. Sdizhkov has been put on trial for publishing 8 of the 12 Danish Mohammad cartoons in 2006 when he was the editor in chief of the independent newspaper Zgoda.

The Mohammad cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was a concrete reason for the battle lines between western and Muslim perceptions to be drawn up. Nevertheless decisions on publishing must under all circumstances remain an internal editorial matter. Therefore the Danish Union of Journalists cannot accept, that the Minsk municipal court brings charges against Aleksandr Sdvizhkov under the penal code (part 1 of article 130 about «incitement to religious hatred»).

Aleksandr Sdvizhkov published the cartoons in an undisputable editorial context as Zgoda was describing the events following the publication of the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten in the autumn of 2005 up until the international uproar which at that time was still in the starting phase.

The Danish Union of Journalists strongly opposes this attempt to limit the freedom of speech, recently exemplified by the arrest of Aleksandr Sdvizhkov when he in December returned to Minsk after a prolonged stay in Moscow.

Furthermore we condemn the closure of Zgoda by the authorities in March 2006 only three days before the presidential elections.

The Danish Union of Journalists would like to express its full support to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists BAJ, which endeavors to secure the acquittal of Aleksandr Sdvizhkov.

Mogens Blicher Bjerregård

President

Danish Union of Journalists