Website Editor Fined for an Article about an Action

Svi­at­lana Tsishko, the edi­tor of the web­site Kraj.by, was fined for 20 b.a. (460 BYN) for vio­lat­ing the pro­ce­dure for orga­niz­ing or hold­ing mass events (art. 23.34).

The judge inter­pret­ed the journalist’s arti­cle as if she had been invit­ing peo­ple to join the unsanc­tioned event.

“It was a usu­al infor­ma­tion note about how the town pre­pares for the action – on its eve, the cen­ter was sur­round­ed by a met­al fence,” says the edi­tor. “I assigned a jour­nal­ist to check infor­ma­tion about the action, to find out if it had been allowed or not.”

The hear­ing took 20 min­utes. The lawyer insist­ed that the case lacked crime com­po­nents.

“I am shocked by the deci­sion. I did not expect that a jour­nal­ist could be hold liable for dis­tri­b­u­tion of ordi­nary infor­ma­tion. Besides, the fine of 20 basic amounts (over 240$) is quite a big sum for me, a sin­gle moth­er with an under-age child. It’s a big sum for Mal­adzech­na.”