Some 3,000 prosecuted under “extremist content” article in 2023 – report

January 7, Pozirk. The Belarusian government prosecuted at least 2,791 people last year under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offensives, which prohibits the production and distribution of “extremist” information, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Judges sentenced at least 342 of them to a total of 6,548 days in jail and fined at least 254 a total of 370,703 rubels (some $112,500 at the current exchange rate). Sentences often included confiscation of phones or computers. The outcome of most trials remains unknown.

In 2023, Belarusian courts passed 888 decisions banning various information products, symbols, books, websites, and social media pages as “extremist content.”

Human rights defenders said in the spring that Article 19.11 had become a universal tool for arbitrary reprisals, including for social media posts.