November 21, Pozirk. Belarus’ interior ministry has added 30 people to its list of “extremists”—as it usually labels people prosecuted for political reasons, according to human rights activists. The list contains as many as 6,019 entries.
The additions include Siarhiej Čabocka, owner of the s13.ru website declared an “extremist group” by the Committee for State Security last year, and Arkadź Kajčurenka, an activist sentenced to five years in prison after returning to Belarus from exile.
The Hrodna Regional Court sentenced Čaboćka to three and a half years in prison and fined him 42,000 rubels ($14,100) in late October. He was found guilty of forming an extremist group and defaming Alaksandar Łukašenka.
People placed on the list of individuals involved in extremist activities are banned from any education- and publishing-related activity, as well as from holding state positions and from doing military service, for five years after completing their sentences or after the related conviction is deleted from the criminal record.
Their financial transactions are subject to close monitoring.
Following the crackdown on the 2020 postelection protests, authorities in Belarus equated criticism, solidarity, advocacy, the free media and free expression to extremism and terrorism.
