Lohvinau’s appeal to be considered today

Ihar Lohvinau’s hearing is appointed for January 30. The editor is hoping to appeal the last (out of six) refusals of the Ministry of Information to give the private publishing house Lohvinau a license for the distribution of printed editions, BelaPAN reports.

The publishing house was deprived of its license in September 2013 for publishing the album Belarus Press Photo 2011. Ashmyany District Court announced the album to be extremist.

The Ministry of Taxation conducted a checkup in the bookshop Lohvinau on demand of the Ministry of Information in December 2014. The shop was accused of selling printed editions without a license of the Ministry of information.

Minsk Economic Court fined Lohvinau for 30 base amounts (Br5.4 million) for illegal business on January 9. The income received by Lohvinau in January-December 2014 will be confiscated (over Br960 million).

Ihar Lohvinau pled not guilty. He believes that he did everything possible to avoid the violation. In particular, Lohvinau applied for a license six times in 2014. However, officials refused him for various reasons.

Photo: svaboda.org