Leninski 97% Telegram channel declared “extremist”

March 17, BPN. Information products of Leninski 97% Telegram channel have been declared extremist materials at the request of the Leninski District Prosecutor’s Office in Minsk, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

The channel has 865 subscribers.

Malanka Media web pages and YouTube channel were labeled “extremist” earlier this week.

In 2021, prosecutors sent to courts 300 lawsuits to declare information products extremist material. Andrej Šved, prosecutor general, said that extremists were operating online, “where almost 60% of the crimes recorded last year were committed with the use of information and communication technologies.”

On October 12, 2021, the government passed a directive entitled “On Measures to Counter Extremism and Rehabilitation of Nazism” as part of its efforts to enforce an anti-extremism law.

The interior ministry warned the same month that “subscribing to extremist channels and chat rooms entails criminal liability.” It also warned that “extremist Telegram channel subscribers will be held criminally liable . . . as participants in an extremist formation.”

Distribution of “extremist materials” is punishable under the Administrative Offenses Code, while participation in the activities of “extremist formations” is a crime carrying a prison sentence.

BelaPAN, Belsat TV, Radio Svaboda and Naša Niva are among media organizations blacklisted by authorities as extremist groups.