The Belarusian Information Ministry has added Belsat’s information products to the Republican List of Extremist Materials, as well as the name ‘Belsat’.
As reported earlier, the website and social networks of Belsat were declared extremist by Chyhunachny district court of Homiel on July 27. The decision was based on the inspection conducted by the Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption (notorious GUBOPiK/GUBAZiK) in Homiel region. The materials were not specified.
Under the Belarusian law, the distribution of ‘extremist’ works (i.e. sharing and posting on the Internet) is prohibited in the country; one may get a fine of a few days of arrest for violating of the regulation. The access to the websites on which such materials were posted must also be blocked. If found during searches, the publications deemed extremist (for example, books) are to be confiscated and subsequently destroyed; their holders may face administrative charge. At the same time, the law does not prohibit subscribing to such resources, so one can continue to read and watch Belsat.
In the wake of the outbreak of large-scale post-election protests in the summer of 2020, the Lukashenka regime started to took aim at ‘opposition’ Telegram channels and non-state media outlets. Since then, they have blocked access to Belsat.eu, TUT.BY, Nasha Niva (nn.by), Euroradio, Kyky.org, and many other online resources in the country.
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