December 24, Pozirk. The Grodno.in news website has stopped opening in Belarus and abroad after a district court in Hrodna designated it as extremist content yesterday.
The newsroom has probably ceased operations. It is impossible to access the site even with a VPN, and its social media are no longer updated.
In addition to Grodno.in, authorities declared its Telegram, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and other pages extremist content.
The website published news, reports, advertisements and announcements.
In the spring of 2024, its owners filed a lawsuit against Volha Bondarava, a Hrodna-based pro-Russian activist, after she reportedly criticized an ad for a student party featuring hugging girls. The dispute was settled out of court.
On October 30, the content of another popular Hrodna website, s13.ru, and a related Telegram channel, were declared extremist. A week later, the Committee for State Security (KGB) declared its staff an extremist group.
The extremist group designation carries punishment of up to seven years in prison for anyone associated with it, whereas the extremist content designation carries the maximum punishment of up to 15 days in jail for anyone sharing or possessing it.
