Brest Regional Court refuses to cancel fine for journalist

Judge Andrei Vasiliuk upheld the decision of Brest's Maskoŭski district court, which on March 26 had found Ales Liauchuk guilty of violating part 2 of article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences (illegal production and distribution media products) and fined him 3,780,000 rubles.

The regional court ignored the fact that the journalist had been tried in absentia and that he hadn't received a court summons (the district police officer, who made the police reports, had warned Mr. Liauchuk about the trial).

Ales Liauchuk was also fined 6 million rubles by Brest's Leninski district court at the end of 2014 for violating part 2 of article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Both the Brest regional court and chairperson of the court Tamara Suchok dismissed the journalist's appeals.

Ales Liauchuk says he is going to go through all court instances in Belarus and use international legal mechanisms in order to get the justice.