The Belarusians subscribed to channels social media which the authorities deem “extremist” will face up to seven years in prison according to new proposals from state authorities released today.
Social media channels like Telegram were widely used during mass demonstrations against the president Alexander Lukashenko last year, both for coordinating demonstrations and for sharing videos of incidents of violent police repression.
Some of the most popular channels on Telegram, including this newsletter NEXTA, were categorized as “extremist” after the demonstrations began. NEXTA has almost 1 million subscriptions while the Telegram channel of the news portal TUT.BY, which closed from the beginning, has 500,000.
The Belarusian Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime said in a statement that “subscribers to extremist Telegram channels and chat rooms will be considered criminally liable (…) As members of an extremist group “.
It is pointed out that more than a hundred channels in Telegram and chats have been characterized as extremist in Belarus. Anyone republishing their content is already facing it imposition of a fine even booking up to 30 days, reports Reuters.
“Retaliation” against the opponents of the regime
Protests erupted last year after the presidential election, for which Lukashenko’s opponents complained of blatant fraud aiming to keep the veteran leader in power.
Tens of thousands of people have been arrested and human rights activists say more than 800 people are still in prison as political prisoners.
The authorities started recently retaliation against citizens expressing anti-regime views on the internet.
Hundreds of people have been arrested and are facing prison sentences for disrespectful comments about a KGB officer who died in an exchange of gunfire in Minsk last month, according to the same Media.
“Belarus’s independent media are being destroyed, many journalists are being imprisoned, access to websites is being blocked,” the exiled opposition leader wrote on Twitter. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
“Now the regime is threatening to prosecute with sentences of up to seven years in prison for subscribing to ‘extremist’ Telegram channels, including free media. “The truth is forbidden in Belarus.”
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