Some 60 groups branded extremist, over one hundred people charged

June 13, BPN. Belarus’ interior ministry and Committee for the State Security (KGB) have branded over 60 groups as extremist, Hienadź Kazakievič, a deputy interior minister and the head of the Belarusian criminal police, told the interior ministry’s official newspaper Na Strazhe.

He said that the police were actively working to identify the organizers and participants of these groups, noting that they were directed from abroad. According to the interior ministry, over one hundred Belarusians were prosecuted for creating and participating in extremist groups, including on charges of committing sabotage on the railroads.

In October 2021, the government passed a directive entitled “On Measures to Counter Extremism and Rehabilitation of Nazism” as part of its efforts to enforce an anti-extremism law.

The interior ministry’s list of extremist groups features about 70 entries. BelaPAN, Belsat TV, Radio Svaboda, Naša Niva, and KYKY are among the blacklisted media organizations.

The Minsk Regional Court is hearing a criminal case against BelaPAN executives this week. The defendants are BelaPAN’s editor in chief Iryna Leŭšyna, former CEO Źmićer Navažyłaŭ, and media manager Andrej Alaksandraŭ, the company’s deputy director from 2014 to 2018. Alaksandraŭ’s girlfriend Iryna Złobina is also on trial.

The journalists face numerous charges, including creation of an extremist group, high treason, and tax evasion. They are also charged with “aiding the foreign organization By_Help” in “activities aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus.” Human rights defenders say that their persecution is politically motivated.

On June 8, Andrej Kuzńečyk, a RFE/RL Belarus Service contributor, was sentenced to six years in a high-security prison on charges of establishing an extremist group.