Svetlana Kalinkina
| Svetlana Kalinkina | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Belarusian |
| Occupation | reporter |
| Organization | Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta (2002-04), Narodnaya Volya (2004-present) |
| Known for | dissident reporting |
| Awards | CPJ International Press Freedom Award (2004) |
Svetlana Kalinkina is a Belarusian journalist known for her critical reporting of President Alexander Lukashenko.
In 2003, she was editor of Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta (BDG), a popular business daily based in Minsk. The paper began to publish reports and features critical of Lukashenko's government, including articles covering the trials of Vikto Kazeko, former director of the state food company, and Mikhail Leonov, former director of Minsk Tractor Works. One edition also included a poll asking readers whether it was appropriate for Lukashenko to use his presidential plane for personal journeys.
Soon the paper was reportedly subject to a campaign of official harassment, including "politically motivated tax inspections, death threats and detentions". Belarus's Information Ministry began to harass any printer that agreed to work with the paper, forcing BDG to print in Russia. The print edition of BDG had largely disappeared from Belarus by September 2004, leaving only the website.
Kalinkina then took a leave of absence from the paper to work against a national referendum that would eliminate presidential term limits, allowing Lukashenko to serve indefinitely. The referendum passed.
Kalinkina then accepted an editorship at the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya (English "The People's Will"), Belarus's largest-circulation opposition daily. In October 2005, pressure from the Information Ministry prevented Belarusian printers from working with the paper, forcing Kalinkina again to contract with a printer in Smolensk, Russia. Beginning on 1 January 2006, the Belarusian post office refused to distribute the paper, and an entire print run of 30,000 copies was confiscated by police on 9 January. When citizens of Salihorsk began a petition on the paper's behalf, police made visits to the homes of the signatories to interrogate them.
On 13 March 2006, a week before the presidential election that would usher in Lukashenko's third term, Narodnaya Volya, BDG, and Tovarishch had their print runs abruptly cancelled by their Smolensk supplier. Kalinkina told The New York Times that she believed Belarusian government pressure to be responsible, saying, "When, a week before the election, someone refuses to print three papers, it is clear there are political reasons."
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