Criminal liability establihed for subscribers of extremist Telegram channels in Belarus
The Belarusian authorities have established criminal liability for subscribers of Telegram channels, which are considered extremist. They now face up to 7 years in prison, as Hromadske reported.
On October 12, the Council of Ministers adopted Resolution 75575 “On Measures to Counteract Extremism and Rehabilitation of Nazism”, which was to regulate the implementation of the provisions of the Law “On Countering Extremism”.
The innovation stipulates that subscribers to "extremist" Telegram channels or chats will be prosecuted as members of an extremist group.
In all, more than 100 Telegram channels have been declared extremist in Belarus , most of which slam the regime of self-proclaimed President Aleksander Lukashenko.
The Belarusian authorities regularly prosecute people for criticizing them in online chats In particular, in early October, more than 130 people were detained Belarus, who commented on the murder of an IT worker by the KGB.
It will be recalled that in August 2020, mass protests broke out in Belarus over the announcement of Aleksander Lukashenko, who was in power for more than 26 years, as the winner of the presidential election. The protesters do not recognize these results and demand to recognize the oppositionist Svitlana Tikhanovska as the legitimate president of Belarus.
Despite mass rallies across the country, on September 23, Lukashenko was inaugurated. And the protesters were brutally dispersed, detained and generally persecuted, including in criminal cases.
Tens of thousands of people were detained during the protests, five protesters were killed by security forces, and hundreds were recognized as political prisoners.
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