Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Free Trade Union of Belarus in Polatsk Viktar Stukau is accused of distributing extremist materials. All because of a Belsat video posted on Stukau’s Facebook page, reports the regional human rights website “Vitebskaya Vesna.”
On October 13, a Polatsk District Department of Internal Affairs police officer, Viktar Kurash, filed an administrative offense report against the trade union leader Viktar Stukau. According to the police, Stukau distributed extremist materials on the Internet. He was charged in absentia because the alleged offender failed to appear at the police station.
“On September 23, officers of Polatsk District Department of Internal Affairs found that Stukau, being at an unspecified location, used devices with Internet access to post and store information included in the national list of extremist materials on his page “Виктор Стуков” in public access on the Facebook social network,” reads the police report.
The police believe that on July 16th and 23rd, 2021, Viktar Stukau “at unspecified times posted a video with the logo and a digital watermark “Belsat TV” on the social network Facebook and stored it until detected by the police, thus spreading it.”
According to police captain Viktar Kurash, Stukau’s actions fit the offense under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus (“Distribution, production, storage and transportation of information products containing appeals to extremist activity or promoting such activity”).
A date for the trial has not yet been set. If the court finds the involvement of a trade union leader in the dissemination of extremist videos, he faces a fine of up to 870 rubles or an arrest for up to 15 days.
belsat.eu
