Ales Bialiatski’s book “Enlightened by Belarusianness” dedicated to the figures and the works of the Belarusian literature, was recently published in Vilnius. 40 copies of the book were confiscated from a human rights defender Tatsiana Reviaka on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border checkpoint “Kamenny Loh” on 3 July this year. 

Tatsiana Reviaka recieved the conclusion of the expert committee dated 3 September by mail on 5 September 2013.This was preceded by two months of correspondence with the human rights defenders by the customs authorities.

In the correspondence with the customs authorities Tatsiana Reviaka tried to find out who and how would be to carrying out the examination. On one of the letters from Ashmiany Customs Office it was suggested to ““return the products (40 copies of the book “Enlightened byBelarusianness” published in Vilnius) to the territory of the Republic of Lithuania.” However, the authorities proposed “alternative” – ​​”to pay customs duty.” The document stated that the decision was adopted by customs authorities based on the frequency of crossing the border by Tatsiana Reviaka, as well as “the nature and quantity of goods transported.”

Disagreeing with the definition of “goods” (which implies a commercial basis) in respect to the book of Ales Bialiatski, Tatsiana Reviaka sent to the Ashmiany Customs Office another appeal, which brought arguments that this publication was not intended for use with business purposes. “Forty copies of the book … are necessary for me, my family, my friends, for donating them to the libraries. The book is not meant for sale, as it was published from voluntary donations. The author of the book “Enlightened by Belarusianness” is Ales Bialiatski, a friend of mine, with whom I’ve been working in the same organization. Among my arguments are the circulation, the artistic and journalistic style of the book, as well as lack of registration as a business entity…” As for the argument about the frequency of crossing the state border Tatiana Ravyaka explained: “I am the president of a Lithuanian non-profit organization and I regularly travel there to perform my duties. I do not transport any goods that could present any interest for commercial use.”

Experts looked for extremism, but found the damage to the image of Belarus

From the conclusions of the expert committee one can find out that the “experts” searched for “extremism” in Ales Bialiatski’s book, but since they found nothing, they abruptly decided to conclude that “this printed production may damage the image of the Republic of Belarus.”

Human rights defenders had many questions about this “expertise”, which Tatsiana Reviak put in a complaint to the State Customs Committee. In addition, the examination, according to human rights defenders was conducted with violations. All points of these violations are listed in the complaint:

1) The conclusions did not specify the place of the customs examination.

2) As a basis for the customs examination a letter from Ashmiany Customs Office is indicated, and not the decision on the appointment of the customs examination of the customs inspector.

3) Persons named in the documents are not experts because, as such, were not appointed by the customs.

4) The conclusions do not contain a note certified by the signature of the customs expert(s), about the fact that (s)he was warned of civil or criminal liability for knowingly giving false conclusion of the customs expert(s) for customs examination.

5) Questions posed to the customs expert(s) were re-formulated by the “comittee” itself without explaining the reasons for this.

6) A list of documents, materials, samples and specimens submitted to the customs expert(s) for customs examination is limited to only a book, without specifying that the experts were also provided with a letter of State Customs Committee regarding the “circumstances of the case.”

7) The conclusions do not contain the content, used methods and the results of examination, an assessment of the results of examination, nether there are specific conclusions concerning the questions and their rationale.

8) The conclusions are not accompanied by the materials and documents illustrating the conclusions of the customs expert(s).

9) The findings in the conclusions of the customs expert(s) are not represented in the form of answers to questions, and the answers are not the sequence that corresponds to the sequence of the questions.

Based on the above Tatsiana Reviaka asks the chairman of the State Customs Committee to inspect and to recognize the actions Ashmiany Customs Office and its officers illegal and to determine the measures to be taken to address the violations described.

The letter about the “circumstances of the case” referred to “expert commission” is of particular interest. Tatsiana Revyaka asks to request Ashmiany Customs Office and send her a copy of this letter which in some way influenced the fate of the political-prisoner’s book.

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