Ivan Kruk appeals against fine

Astravets activist Ivan Kruk, who has been fined for handing out press editions containing no imprint, appealed against the verdict of Astravets district court to Hrodna oblast court, and also applied to Hrodna oblast prosecutor’s office.

He also passed copies of these documents to the OSCE mission in the Republic of Belarus, the International Federation of Human Rights and mass media. At the same time Ivan Kruk filed with the Ministry of Communications and Informatization a complaint against the actions of the head of Astravets communications unit Talchuk who unlawfully refused to present the information on the correspondence between Astravets district police department and the Ministry of Information that concerned his legal rights.

Bear in mind that on 26 April 2009 the police detained Ivan Kruk for giving several copies of the newspapers Astravetski Vesnik and Glotok Vozdukha to a neighbor. On 12 June the head of the legal department of the Ministry of Information drew a violation report against him, grounded on the materials that were presented by Astravets district police department.