Minsk: printing house refuses to print Borisovskiye Novosti

Since the begging of this year independent social and political newspaper Borisovskiye Novosti has been deprived a possibility to be printed, and to be distributed via its own retail network.

As the press-service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists informs, in December Minsk-based Plutos-market private printing-house where the regional newspaper was printed for the last years, told to the editorial office of the newspaper that since 3 January 2009 the contract is terminated, in connection with the ‘global financial crisis’, the administration of the printing house explained.

According to the schedule, the next issue of Borisovskiye Novosti was to have been published on 6 January in the evening, but it is not clear right now whether the newspaper would be published. As said by its editor-in-chief Anatol Bukas, not they are exchanging letters to the administration of Plutos-Market in order to settle the problem.

‘It was stated in the last letter from the printing house that we allegedly didn’t pay for publishing our newspaper on time. I wrote to them that the printing house never had complaints to us concerning payment for their services, and now we are waiting for their answer,’ Anatol Bukas said in an interview to the BAJ press-service.

Meanwhile, since 30 December Barysau regional executive committee on recommendation of tax police annulled the license for retail trade from the editor of Borisovskiye novosti, the private Unitarian enterprise Bukas media-centre.

Anatol Bukas considers that actions of the local authorities are not justified, and today he has filed a claim to the Economic Court of Minsk region demanding to refute the decision of the executive committee on annulling the retail trade license.

‘Thus, the work of our enterprise is blocked. Today we cannot publish the newspaper and sell it. Our team wants to work normally and to pay taxes normally, and we are prevented from doing that. Meanwhile, we have paid 346 million dollars to the budget of the country,’ Anatol Bukas said.

For more than 3 years Borisovskiye novosti, like other independent newspapers, had been deprived of the possibility to be distributed via subscription of Belposhta and kiosks network of Belsayuzdruk (the state monopolists).

Under harsh economic and legal conditions the authorities allowed only Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya independent newspapers to be returned into the state-run network of distribution.

At the same time, distribution of such newspapers as Novy Chas, SN. Plus (subscription), Tovarishch, Vitebskiy Kurier-M”, Volnaue Hlybokaye, Hazeta Slonimskaya, Hantsavitski Chas, Intex-press (Baranavichy), Gazeta dlya vas, Babruiski kuryier remains limited.