Guarantors of TUT.by journalists fined 18,500 rubles

The Minsk City Court has fined three guarantors of the former editor of the political and economic office of TUT.by Volha Loika and journalist Alena Talkachova. Each of the guarantors must pay 18,500 rubles (500 base units) for the fact that the journalists did not appear at the court hearing in the TUT.by case, Sputnik writes.

The guarantors were Deputy of the House of Representatives Valery Varanetski, political scientist Yauhen Preiherman (both vouched for Talkachova) and Aliaksandr Shvets, Chairman of the Republican Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Loika's guarantor). A fine of 500 basic is the maximum amount of punishment provided for by Article 121 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Loika and Talkachova were detained along with other TUT.by employees in May 2021, but they were later released on personal bail. After that, the journalists left Belarus without waiting for the trial. They are accused of complicity in tax evasion (part 6 of article 16 and part 2 of article 243 of the Criminal Code), incitement of hatred and calls for actions directed against the national security of Belarus (part 3 of article 361 of the Criminal Code).

In the "TUT.by case", the editor-in-chief of the portal Maryna Zolatava and the general director of the outlet Lyudmila Chekina were sentenced to 12 years in prison.