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Censorship in Belarus, although prohibited by the country's constitution, is enforced by a number of laws. These include a law that makes insulting the president punishable by up to five years in prison, and another that makes criticizing Belarus abroad punishable by up to two years in prison. == Freedom of the press == Freedom of the press in Belarus remains extremely restricted. State-owned media are subordinated to the president and harassment and censorship of independent media are routine. The government subjects both independent and foreign media to systematic political intimidation, especially for reporting on the deteriorating economy and human rights abuses. Journalists are harassed and detained for reporting on unauthorized demonstrations or working with unregistered media outlets. Journalists have been killed in suspicious circumstances.〔("The death of Oleg Bebenin" ), Michael Harris, Index on Censorship, 4 September 2010〕 Most local independent outlets regularly practice self-censorship.〔 The state maintains a virtual monopoly on domestic broadcast media, only the state media broadcasts nationwide, and the content of smaller television and radio stations is tightly restricted. The government has banned most independent and opposition newspapers from being distributed by the state-owned postal and kiosk systems, forcing the papers to sell directly from their newsrooms and use volunteers to deliver copies, but authorities sometimes harass and arrest the private distributors.〔 However, the relatively free Russian media is allowed to transmit television programming, sell newspapers and conduct journalistic activities in Belarus (though some Russian journalists have been expelled by the Belarusian government), thus giving some members of the public, typically those in large cities with many Russian residents, access to an alternative point of view in the Russian language (nearly all Belarusians understand and most of them speak Russian). Several opposition media outlets broadcast from nearby countries to provide Belarusians alternative points of view. This includes the Belsat TV station and European Radio for Belarus (Eŭrapéjskaje Rádyjo dla Biełarúsi).〔("Dissent hits Belarus via Warsaw" ), Gordon Fairclough, Wall Street Journal, 29 January 2011〕 In 2014-2015, dozens of freelance journalists have been fined for working with foreign media (including Belarusian-language media based in the EU) without official state accreditation from the Foreign Ministry, as foreseen by Article 22.9(2) of the Belarusian Code on Administrative Offence. Journalists were fined several hundreds of euros for having published through foreign media, rather than based on the content of their work. Computer equipments were also seized. The journalists fined had published on Polish-based Belsat TV, Deutsche Welle. Procedural guarantees, including the hearing of witnesses in court, were reportedly not followed by Belarusian authorities, but appeals were rejected. The prosecution of freelancers was condemned by the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), which deemed it a gross violation of the standards of freedom of expression, as well as by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). Since April 2014, 38 freelance journalists have been fined €200-500, totalling over €8,000 - some of them being repeatedly prosecuted and fined.〔(Freelance journalists in Belarus face fines for working with foreign media ), Index on Censorship, 6 October 2015〕 DDoS cyber-attacks have been reported, on the upcoming to the 2015 Presidential election, to the websites of the websites of BelaPAN news agency (Belapan.com and Naviny.by) and web portal TUT.by, after they published a critical article about students ordered to attend official events. The Belarusian Association of Journalists has expressed concern.〔(Belarus/Беларусь: Independent media under DDoS attacks during electoral campaign ), Mapping Media Freedom, 3 October 2015〕 Reporters Without Borders ranked Belarus 154th out of 178 countries in its 2010 Press Freedom Index.〔(''Press Freedom Index 2010'' ), Reporters Without Borders, 20 October 2010〕 In the 2011 Freedom House ''Freedom of the Press report'', Belarus scored 92 on a scale from 10 (most free) to 99 (least free), because the Lukashenko regime systematically curtails press freedom. This score placed Belarus 9th from the bottom of the 196 countries included in the report and earned the country a "Not Free" status.〔("Country report: Belarus" ), ''Freedom of the Press 2011'', Freedom House, 21 April 2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Censorship in Belarus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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