Ihar Lohvinau: Now publisher in Belarus is accountable to the law more than a bootlegger

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Information Ministry leads recurring wars and destroys publishers. After introducing special license for selling books its next step will be a license for reading them, the famous publisher is sure.

On Friday, January 9, the Economic Court of Minsk completed hearing the tax ministry's suit seeking payment of a penalty of one billion rubles by prominent publisher Ihar Lohvinau’s bookstore.

The Court ordered to levy impose this penalty on the bookstore, as well as to pay one more fine of 5 billion 400 thousand rubles – for trade without special license from the Information Ministry.

Let us recall that the publisher Ihar Lohvinau didn’t manage to get this permission despite six attempts. It is for the work without license from the Ministry that the store was fined for almost a billion rubles, which makes the store’s annual turnover.

A correspondent of “EuroBelarus” Information Service talked about the court’s decision and weird relationship with the state body with Ihar Lohvinau.

- Please comment upon the decision of the court.

- There were all the signs that it is going to happen, all because of the legislation we have: no our neighboring country as well as nowhere else in the world has any restrictions for printing and publishing books!

Besides, this year a new law on publishing took effect. The law obliges to have a special permission for selling books.

photo Euroradio.fm

- What are the chances to appeal this decision?

- There are none! The law leaves no loopholes; here we see ideology of state’s fight against books tooth-and-nail.

- Your bookstore was reregistered on a new juridical person. However, if the former juridical person isn’t able to appeal the court’s decision, will the store and the publishing house survive?

- It has been more than a year now that our publishing house is deprived of the license, so we had to register in Vilnius. The second step to putting an end to our work here was the closure of the store. And the judicial person that used to own the store is unlikely to continue its work.

- You received wide international support after your first lawsuit with the Information Ministry. Are you expecting such kind of support now?

- It is somewhat a different story that we have now, but we still expect support, as the case is scandalous, and I don’t think that there was something similar in the world practice.

And we might look for support and assistance in some international organizations.

- You said that the reason for persecution of “Lohvinau’s” publishing house was the old conflict with the Information Ministry. Is it a new attempt of the Ministry to beggar you or were you merely carried away with the wave before the president election?

- I’m afraid there are two reasons. First is the crackdown before the president election, and the second is the deliberate destruction of publishing sphere in Belarus. I don’t know the motives for that, but all external steps of the Ministry are killing this sphere.

But what relation can bookstores and publishing houses have to the president election? One has to have very perverted conscience to see some threat for election in us.

- What precedents did you have before the notorious case with “Lohvinau”?

- We didn’t have any with the bookstores as the law has just taken effect; as to the publishing houses, these are regular warnings and deprivation of licenses.

The Information Ministry leads recurring wars and destroys publishers.

- What will become of the Belarusan publishing sphere if everything continues at the same pace?

- I think that the next logical step will be a license for reading books, and in a year or two a librarian will become more dangerous than a drug dealer. Now publisher in Belarus is accountable to the law more than a bootlegger.

- You have a possibility to appeal to the officials of the Ministry through our information source. What are you going to say to them?

- I don’t know; we appealed to them more than once. They don’t react, and even if they do, this reaction is inadequate. I think they are having a crisis of freedom of conscience.