On May, 16 a court decision in the case of “Niva”, which is a weekly of Belarusians in Poland, was announced. Under trial was the periodical’s Council. The session has finally put an end to a case which was being dragged from 2003. The judge of a Biełastok district court Krzysztof Kozłowski acquitted 11 members of the council headed by Professor Jaŭhien Miranovič.

The trial in “Niva” case was launched last year, after a control body audited financial operations of the newspaper in 2002-2003. According to the auditors, the publishers of “Niva” violated legislation by spending State subsidies in wrong terms. The Council of the newspaper stated that the violations were rooted in the fact that subsidies were granted in March and were to be expended by November. Nevertheless, the newspaper should be published regularly, including wintertime. That forced the Council to buy stocks of paper, settle bill in advance etc.

During the court examination the prosecution bid for suspended sentence of eight month with a two years’ deferment and a fine of 700 dollars to the former head of Council Professor Miranovič as well as one year of suspended sentence with three years’ deferment and a fine of 1000 dollars to the accountant of “Niva” Maryja Paŭlučuk. The rest nine members of the council were to suffer a year of suspended sentence and a fine of 200 dollars each.

The members of “Niva” Programme Council, as well as their lawyers, disagree with the prosecution and have many times mentioned that the case is of biased and far-fetched character. The current chief editor of the weekly “Niva” Jaŭhien Vapa drew attention to an increased interest to the case form the side of human rights organisation. This fact was, in his opinion, the main argument for the case being concocted by the prosecution.        

All 11 members of the Programme Council under trial with Jaŭhien Miranovič at the head were acquitted.

The court decided that they had no other way to act if they were willing to save the weekly. The Court underscored that they committed no crime, because several accounting errors did not signify that the Belarusian public figures aimed at breaking the law. The court also noted that only those who are hostile towards the publishers could blame them.

Judge Kozłowski acknowledged that the staff of the newspaper made much to public benefit by standing for the rights of Belarusian minority than potential damage, caused in large by bureaucratic delay in the process of receiving subsidies from the ministry of Culture and the lack of experience in accounting paper work.

Well-known politicians and diplomats arrived to support the editors of “Niva”, including Alaksandar Milinkievič, the head of Belarusians of the World “Baćkaŭščyna” council Alena Makoŭskaja and an ex-ambassador of Poland in Belarus Mariusz Maszkievicz. The decision of the court was hailed with applause.