Brest: journalist Aliaksandr Liauchuk tried in absentia

On March 26, the Maskouski District Court of Brest considered an administrative case against local freelance journalist Aliaksandr Liauchuk. However, he had not received an invitation to the court session.

Report on administrative offense under Part 2 of Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code was written by Raman Trafimuk of the Maskouski district police department. The charges stemmed from a publication on the website of the Belsat TV channel signed AL. According to Aliaksandr Liauchuk, the police officer had printouts and other materials from the website, as well as extracts from the Law “On Mass Media”. Raman Trafimuk told the reporter that the authorship was allegedly confirmed by his interviewees, saying that the trial in the case would be held on March 26.

Yesterday, Aliaksandr Liauchuk phoned the Maskouski District Court to learn that the case had already been considered without his participation. In addition, a court clerk refused to give about the outcome of the trial.

On March 27, the journalist was told on the phone that he was sentenced to a fine of 21 basic units (3,780,000 rubles).