Belarusian Government

Medium: Electronic Media

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Artist: Those crossing Belarusian borders with electronic media.

Confronting Bodies: Belarusian government, customs officers.

Dates of Action: February 2002

Location: Belarus

Description of Artwork: Compact Discs, video tapes and disks containing negative views on President Aleksandr Lukashenka.

The Incident: Belarusian customs officials are confiscating any material that makes negative suggestions towards Aleksandr Lukashenka and his government. Those taking laptop computers across the Belarusan border must surrender them to customs for inspection twenty-four hours before departure.

Results of Incident: Freedom of speech in Belarus is being compromised. Belarus' state airline, Belavia, may lose customers; since customs controls on the Belarus-Russian border have been lifted, businesspersons leaving Belarus with laptop computers can take a train to Moscow for their flights.

Source: NCAC [[Category:2002]