Chief editor of ‘Vitebskiy Kurier’ fined 1,225,000 rubles

The Liozna District Court considered the administrative case against the chief editor of the socio-political newspaper Vitebskiy Kurier Viktar Ramniou who was charged with unlawful distribution of the newspaper for transporting 11,000 copies of it from a Russian printing house to Vitsebsk.

Judge Antanina Afanasyeva fined him 1,225,000 rubles (about $408). Mr. Ramniou thrice challenged the judge because of her refusal to admit to the trial the human rights Pavel Levinau who wanted to represent his interests. However, these motions were rejected.

The testimony against the defendant was given by officers of the Liozna District Police Department who had detained him on 8 October. The official pretensions to Mr. Ramniou were that all Russian editions allegedly needed a special permission to be distributed on the territory of Belarus. However, such magazines and newspapers as Liza and Speed-Info are freely sold in Belarus without having such permissions.