Affiliated media: Nasha Niva, News website

Incident date: April 13, 2021

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Naviny.by

Location: Belarus, Minsk

Additional information:

The Economic Court of Minsk fined the online media outlet Nasha Niva 300 basic amounts (BYN 8,700) for illegal business activities. The issue in question was 20 obligatory copies of the newspaper printed on the editorial printer for free distribution. According to the law «On Mass Media», the newspaper should be printed at least once every six months, and it should be sent to ministries and libraries. As the editorial office explained, Nasha Niva publishes the printed newspaper only for this mandatory distribution and does not sell it in kiosks, so the mandatory copies were printed on the editorial printer. The Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Taxes and Levies considered that the editorial office did not have the right to do so, as it did not have a separate printing licence.