Supreme Court upholds billion's fine against Lohvinau

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by publisher Ihar Lhvinau against the confiscation of almost one billion rubles.

On February 10, the Supreme Court's judge Katsiaryna Karatkevich dismissed the appeal by Ihar Lohvinau against the decision of the economic court of Minsk on the fine and confiscation of property.

According to BelaPAN news agency, on January 9, the economic court issued a fine of 30 base amounts (5.4 million rubles) to Lohvinau private publishing house for illegal business activity and ruled to seize the company's income for January-December 2014, which is more than 960 million rubles. The publishing house had to work without the registration in the register of information distributors. The Ministry of Information rejected its application for including it in the register six times last year.

The tax office of Minsk's Tsentralny district filed a lawsuit to the economic court, asking to punish the publishing house. The decision was taken after an unscheduled audit, which tax inspectors carried out in Lohvinau bookstore in early December 2014.

The bookstore continues to work under the old name, but it was re-registered by another legal person with no legal reference to Ihar Lohvinau.

At a press conference on January 20, Lohvinau asked the public to help pay the fine. Belarusian democratic organisations and independent mass media joined the fundraising campaign. As of now, more than 15,000 dollars out of required $63,000 was collected.

The licence of Lohvinau publishing house was revoked in September 2013, following the decision of the court of Ashmiany that found the album Belarus Press Photo 2011 extremist.

Photo: Radio Svaboda