A Month of Hunger Strike in Vaukavysk :: Charter'97 :: News

Today is the 30th day of hunger strike of an entrepreneur from Vaukavysk, Mikalay Autukhovich. He and other protesters now have a real hope that their demands would be complied with by the tax inspection. Meanwhile tax police is distraining the property, and seven trucks have already been distrained.

Yesterday the deputy minister of taxes Vasil Kamenka promised to release a blocked account. Of the firm Nika-Trans. The strikers from the Nika-Trans and other protesters were inspired by that, thought their demands have not been fulfilled.

However, Radio Svaboda was told in the regional branch of the “Agroprombank”, which has the account of Nika-Trans, that the order to release the account has not been received from the regional tax inspection yet.

Today tax inspectors came to the territory of the Nika-trans and distrained seven trucks as a deposition for the penal sanctions. However the protesters were assured by that the account would be released.

“We have received a certain victory and it is impossible to say that the hunger strike is fruitless. Our demands have been fulfilled. As for economic sanction’s reversal, we could lie for ten days more if we had health, and the decision of the court would be reversed, and the prosecutor’s office would reply, but we simply have no strength for that,” the strikers say.

Mikalay Autukhovich says that the hunger strike is to be stopped after the account of Nika-Trans would be released.

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Mr. Autukhovich is an owner of about 22 taxi cars. He employs taxi drivers of the firm “Nika-trans”, which has been sentenced to a fine of 1 billion 813 million 529 thousand rubles. The authorities believe that the firm is engaged in taxi service without a licence. But M. Autukhovich believes that they had not violated the law, as he and the “Nika-Trans” had signed an agreement about driving the taxis to which the “Nika-Trans” bears no relation. The account of the Nika-Trans is arrested, and its seven trucks stopped the work since the beginning of the new year.