Minsk 09:50

Prosecutor General says over 3,600 charged with extremist crimes since 2020

February 22, BPN. Since 2020, prosecutors have filed extremism-related charges against a total of 3,645 people in about 3,000 criminal cases, Prosecutor General Andrej Švied has told the joint session of both houses of the National Assembly.

The Belarusian law enforcement agencies have routinely used extremism charges to persecute and silence government critics.

In 2022, authorities recorded more than 6,000 extremist crimes most of which were committed in 2020-2021, he added, noting that police usually solve 77 percent of such cases.

“The tough and timely response of the law enforcement agencies helped restore order,” the official said.

Forty-two percent of defendants in extremism-related cases were sentenced to prison terms, and 20 percent, to restricted freedom in open-type correctional facilities, Švied noted. Authorities also launched special proceedings on extremism-related charges against Belarusian based abroad, he said in apparent reference to cases against opposition leaders.

Belarusian courts satisfied 382 prosecutors’ requests to backlist various types of content as extremist, he added.

The Prosecutor General’s Office also initiated licensing of educational services in the context of fighting extremism, he said.

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