address. On June 9, the Oktyabrsky
District Court in Minsk sentenced Oksana Novikova, a private citizen, to
two and a half years in prison for libeling Your Excellencya criminal
offense under Belarusian law. On April 5, Novikova was detained as she distributed
leaflets critical of you at a Minsk subway station.

In 2003, Belarusian authorities also cracked down on U.S.-funded organizations
providing assistance to local media. The Foreign Ministry refused to extend
its accreditation of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)
and Internews Network, forcing them to close their Minsk offices and end
their media training programsa move that added to the growing isolation
of Belarus from the international community.
OCTOBER 17, 2004Posted: October 22, 2004
Pavel Sheremet, First ChannelATTACKED

Several men beat prominent Belarusian journalist Sheremet, a correspondent
for Russian television's First Channel. The attack occurred on the day a
constitutionalreferendum allowing President Aleksandr Lukashenko to run
for additional terms was passed.

Sheremet was hospitalized in Minsk with a concussion, and police charged
him with hooliganism, according to local and international press reports.
He was ordered to report to the Soviet Regional Court in Minsk on October
20. The hearing was postponed indefinitely because the police had failed
to file the necessary documents in his case.

On October 19, a peaceful opposition protest in Minsk challenging the legitimacy
of the constitutional referendum was violently dispersed by police. Fifty
opposition activists were detained that evening, and several journalists
were injured, including cameramen from the Russian television channels NTV
and REN-TV, whose video cameras were smashed.
OCTOBER 20, 2004
Posted: October 22, 2004
Veronika Cherkasova, Solidarnost
KILLED-UNCONFIRMED

Well-known Belarusian journalist Cherkasova was killed in her apartment
in the capital, Minsk. Her body, which had multiple stab wounds,