Tamara Shchapiotkina fined 7.2 mln roubles

Tamara Shchapiotkina, a freelance journalist from Biaroza, has been fined 7.2 million Belarusian roubles under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, «work for foreign media without accreditation”.

She learned about it only on March 11 after familiarizing with her case at court, because on March 6 she hadn't been admitted to the trial over herself. It's interesting that the main witness, traffic policeman of the Brest District Police Department Siarhei Nelipovich hadn't taken part in the trial either, being on a vacation leave.

For judge Aliaksandr Semianchuk it was enough to see the report of questioning of Siarhei Nelipovich and a copy of a report of a police inspector of the Biaroza District Police Department Siarhei Nestsiarovich from 23 February.

S. Nelipovich stated that a woman had come to him on January 8, introduced herself as a journalist of Radio “Racyja” and took an interview. He hadn't seen her before it.

Tamara Shchapiotkina pointed that in the case there was a copy of the report with her statement that she hadn't come to Mr. Nelipovich on January 8 and hadn't interviewed him. While the police inspector Nestsiarovich was compiling the violation report, she really wrote it, but then changed her mind and asked him to destroy the paper and compile another one, saying that she refused to answer his questions. Siarhei Nestsiarovich crumpled the report and threw it into the dustbin in her presence. Then he drew up the new report which was filed to the Leninski District Court of Biaroza. As it was found later, the police inspector didn't disdain to put the crumpled paper out of the dustbin, iron it and make a copy.