Regardless of the fact how the authorities of any country regulate Internet, finally their attempts will suffer defeat. Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, declared this at the hearings of the threats to mass-media free in Europe which were arranged by U.S. Helsinki Commission.
Participants of the hearings cited as an example steps of some governments of the OSCE countries against freedom of speech. They named YouTube interdiction in Turkey, Internet control measures in Belarus in accordinfg to the decree of the country president, acceptance of laws on the criminal liability for the insult of the authorities in Azerbaijan, Slovakia and Montenegro, Belarusian service of Radio Liberty informs.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media named Internet «the last battlefield» for freedom of speech where freedom, as Dunja Mijatovic considers, will win the «fight» in long- term prospect. «People always find the ways to exercise their rights, which are taken of them. The history testifies to it again and again», the OSCE representative said.
Meanwhile, Dunja Mijatovic mentioned also some positive changes in ten countries of OSCE, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, which revoked from the criminal legislation the articles on defamation and slander, which are sometimes used to prosecute mass-media.
Hearings of the threats to mass-media free in Europe were preparation for July session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly where the American delegation intends to offer the resolution on protection of journalistic researches.
