Ihar Lohvinau asks for help in paying fine

A book publisher Ihar Lohvinau appeals to the civil society for help in paying the fine, which is more than Br960 million.

He has made this appeal at the press-conference in Lohvinau bookshop, BelaPAN informs.

We remind that in December 2014 the Ministry for Taxation’s inspection of the Central district of Minsk under the demand of the Information Ministry held an unscheduled tax audit in Lohvinau bookshop. Following the results of the audit it was stated that the bookshop was selling printed materials without a licence of the Information Ministry.

Lohvinau publishing house was revoked the publisher's licence by the Information Ministry for the album Belarus Press Photo 2011. The album was found “extremist” by the court of Ashmyany district.

On January 9, 2015 the Economic Court of Minsk by its ruling fined the private enterprise, Lohvinau publishing house, 30 basic units (Br5.4 million) for carrying out illegal business activities, and to seize revenues received by the legal entity in January – December 2014, which makes more than Br960 million.

The publisher Ihar Lohvinau pleads not guilty. He says that he was doing his best to avoid committing offense. In particular, in 2014 the management of Lohvinau private enterprise addressed the Information Ministry 6 times and asked for a licence. However they were denied every time. One of the denials was explained by the fact that they indicated a wrong postcode.

Lohvinau said to journalists that he views the actions of the Information Ministry as a war, which is continuing for a few years already. “Not a single country of the world has any laws or regulations which prohibit selling books, not to speak of printing and publishing them,” the book publisher emphasized.

On January 30 the complaint of Lohvinau against the latest denial of the Information Ministry to issue a licence for selling printed goods is to be considered by the Supreme Court of Belarus.