The Belarusian General Prosecutor’s Office announced that the court recognized the accounts of our program “Khay Tak TV” on social networks as extremist materials. It means that sharing and commenting on them is now punishable.
The Prosecutor’s Office filed the lawsuit against the Belsat satirical show in the Vitebsk region. The “Khay Tak TV” Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, VKontakte, and X (formerly Twitter) accounts were deemed extremist.
Additionally, an aggregator of links to video recordings from the Belsat Life channel on Linktree was blacklisted, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
The court also found the Radio Svoboda (Radio Free Europe) Android application to be extremist material.
According to Belarusian legislation, reading and viewing extremist materials is not prohibited. However, their storage, production, transportation, and distribution are punishable by fines and arrest. Belarusian courts also consider sharing, liking, and commenting on the content of extremist social media channels as dissemination.
The content of Belsat TV as a whole was considered extremist material after the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka rigged the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus. Since then, more of our TV programs and their accounts on social networks have been added to the blacklist.
In November 2021, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs went a step further by recognizing our station, along with its employees and social media subscribers, as an extremist group, membership of which is punishable by up to 7 years in a penal colony.
Sciapan Kubik, pj/belsat.eu
Translated by PEV
