One year since BelaPAN designated extremist group

November 1, BPN. One year ago, BelaPAN was the first media outlet blacklisted by the authorities as an extremist group.

Interior ministry and the Committee for the State Security (KBB) added the private news agency to the extremist list that now features a total of ten media outlets, including Belsat TV, Radio Svaboda, Naša Niva, and Euroradio.

BelaPAN’s entry was actually added on November 12, a week before its 30th anniversary. The editorial staff immediately suspended its operation to protect BelaPAN and Naviny.by journalists.

By that time, BelaPAN editor in chief Iryna Leŭšyna and former CEO Dźmitryj Navažyłaŭ had been in custody for almost three months, and its former deputy head Andrej Alaksandraŭ, for ten months.

Authorities brought the charge of creating and running an extremist group to charges of treason, tax evasion, and participating in protests against them.

On October 6, a court in Minsk convicted Leŭšyna of creating and running an extremist group and sentenced her to four years in prison; Navažyłaŭ was given four years for creating and running an extremist group of the aggregate six-year prison term, and Alaksandraŭ, five years out of 14. It remains unclear, whether any other BelaPAN staff members were suspected or charged.

Inclusion of BelaPAN and other media outlets in the list of extremist groups is an attempt to cut off its audience, Barys Harecki, deputy chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) told BPN, a news agency launched by some BelaPAN team members abroad.

“Any group of people can be declared extremists, and it is impossible to appeal against this [decision],” he noted. That media policy helps make people more susceptible to propaganda, he said.

Nevertheless, independent media outlets continue working, with safety being their first priority as they have to protect their journalists and sources, Harecki said.