Belarusian Government
Date: 2002
Region: Europe
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Electronic Media
Artist: Those crossing Belarusan borders with electronic media.
Confronting Bodies: Belarusan 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: Belarusan 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]