Interior ministry lists 21 more people as extremists

April 14, BPN. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has added 21 names to the list of people it says are involved in extremism. The list now has a total of 2,712 entries.

The new additions include Dźmitryj Ravič (sentenced to 22 years in prison), Dzianis Dzikun (23 years) and Aleh Małčanaŭ (21 years), “railway partisans” from Śvietłahorsk, Homiel region. They were accused of setting fire to a relay cabinet with signaling equipment at the Žerdź station on February 28, 2022. The attack allegedly shut down the traffic lights and railroad switches in that area.

With the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian partisans carried out acts of sabotage, for example, by destroying track equipment to slow the transportation of Russian troops and hardware to Ukraine.

The interior ministry also blacklisted spouses Alaksandr and Taćciana Birula, convicted to six years in prison. They were arrested for distributing dissident newspapers.