Ihar Tsishkin Is Fined for Transportation of Non-State Newspaper

Yesterday a judge of Vitsebsk Kastrychnitski borough court Iryna Smaliakova ruled to fine Ihar Tsishkin for alleged violation of article 167.3 of the administrative Code, violation of election laws.

On 4 December Mr. Tsishkin was detained in a car while transporting a circulation of the local democratic newspaper’s Svaboda Vybaru special issue which contained information about law violations that took place during registration of democratic candidates. The judge qualified these actions as illegal agitation during elections ‘that manifested in Tsishkin’s intention to distribute these materials’ and fined him 186 000 Belarusian rubles (about 90 US dollars) and confiscate the newspapers.