Homel Journalists Tried to Be Fined Through Odnoklassniki

A bailiff threatens to deprive a journalist of a driving license and ban to leave Belarus.

Homel freelance journalist, member of the OO "Belarusian Association of Journalists" (BAJ) Larysa Shchyrakova received a message on social network Odnoklassniki from the bailiff of the Homel district Dzmitry Kalodzin with a proposal to immediately pay fines. Otherwise, the bailiff threatens to deprive her of the right to drive a vehicle and to leave the Republic of Belarus, baj.by writes.

This is the first precedent of such address through social networks. Earlier Shchyrakova received a similar warning in a sealed letter.

"I think the bailiff Kalodzin is very active and creative employee. I was confused because I had paid fine for absence of accreditation, but did not provide a receipt. There is a core caveat in the initiative of the bailiff: such address does not guarantee that information will reach the addressee, any person may create a folder with an image in social networks with any name. In this case, the information becomes public," Larysa Shchyrakova says.

Homel civil rights activist Leanid Sudalenka believes that the authorities should take a closer look at Dzmitry Kalodzin, because he is a careful and diligent worker:

"If he was my subordinate, I would grant him a bonus. After all, no violation of fine collection procedure on the part of the bailiff was observed. A bailiff may use different ways to collect fines. He monitors the account of a person. He may seize a vehicle or distrain other property. The sands are running out. There is an opportunity to talk to a perpetrator through social networks. There was no assault of a journalist on Odnoklassniki - the bailiff reminded in a polite form that she had to pay fine or restrictive measures would be applied."