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A criminal case opened against members of the Press Club journalistic organization has been closed in Belarus. They were accused of tax evasion (part 2 of article 243 of the Criminal Code). The case was closed due to compensation for damage, said in the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus.
According to the department, during the investigation the defendants pleaded guilty in full and “gave evidence about the circumstances of the crime.” They also “compensated for the damage caused and paid criminal compensation.”
The Prosecutor General’s Office noted that the cultural and educational institution “Journalist Workshop Press Club” rented premises that were in state ownership, but used a simplified taxation system. According to the agency, the total amount of unpaid taxes exceeded 110 thousand Belarusian rubles ($ 43.7 thousand).
The organization “Press Club Belarus” was liquidated in July this year by the decision of the Minsk City Executive Committee, together with several dozen other non-governmental organizations, informs “Present time”.
On December 22, 2020, searches and examinations were carried out at the office of the Press Club and at the homes of a number of its employees. The security forces confiscated computers and mobile phones from the defendants. As part of the investigation, six people were detained: founder Yulia Slutskaya, program director Alla Sharko, finance director Sergei Olshevsky, program director of the Press Club Academy Sergei Yakupov, cameraman Pyotr Slutsky, son of Yulia Slutskaya, and Ksenia Lutskina, a former employee of Belteleradiocompany …
On December 28, the criminal case against the employees of the Press Club was transferred to the Investigative Committee. Yulia Slutskaya was suspected of tax evasion on an especially large scale (part 2 of article 243 of the Criminal Code), Sharko, Olshevsky, Slutsky, Lutskin – of complicity (part 6 of article 16 of the Criminal Code) in the commission of a crime under part 2 of article 243 of the Criminal Code … Yakupov, who has Russian citizenship, was deported from the country on December 31. He has also been banned from entering Belarus for 10 years.
Press Club Belarus is a member of the International Association of Press Clubs. It was founded in 2011 as a platform for the professional development of the media community, where seminars, lectures, master classes for journalists are held. The Press Club also monitored and analyzed fakes and examples of propaganda in the state media.
In the weeks leading up to the arrests, Press Club staff wrote about the arrests of journalists covering anti-government protests that began following the August 2020 presidential elections.
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