Senior police official says 4,300 “extremist” crimes recorded in 2022

November 26, BPN. The Belarusian Investigative Committee is following over 30 terrorism cases, Anatol Vasiljeŭ, deputy head of the Investigative Committee, told SB. Belarus Segodnya.

Courts have already passed verdicts in some of the cases on railway sabotage, he added. Damage of railway equipment became a form of antiwar protest in Belarus after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

A total of over 11,000 extremist crimes have been recorded in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election, Vasiljeŭ said. Their number remained stable in 2022, with 4,300 crimes registered since January, he added.

Most of the offenders are located abroad and commit crimes online, he said noting that the Telegram messaging app has been instrumental in such activities.

Belarusian authorities consider as extremism any manifestations of opposition to the regimes of Alaksandr Łukašenka and Vladimir Putin, from online comments to support of Ukraine in the war against Russia.