On the recognition of materials as extremist

In order to recognize information products as extremist materials, the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office constantly analyzes criminal cases, materials of administrative offense cases, and other verification materials from the region's law enforcement agencies, and also daily monitors the global Internet (social networks, Telegram channels (chats).

As a rule, during the specified work, facts are established of public dissemination to an unlimited number of persons of messages (publications) with calls for blocking traffic on roads and railways, mass riots, hooligan actions, vandalism, resistance to internal affairs officers, violence against them, destruction and damage to property, including that of the said bodies and the state, in order to impede their lawful activities, or, allegedly, out of revenge for performing official duties, as well as comments with insults and threats against police officers, public servants, and their family members.

In most cases, access to the above-mentioned resources is unimpeded and unrestricted by any person (user) using the global Internet and messengers.

Monitoring of the specified resources shows that their so-called "Administration" takes no action to block or counteract publications of an extremist nature.

In accordance with Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Counteracting Extremism", extremism (extremist activity) is the activity of citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens or stateless persons (hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, - citizens) or political parties, trade unions, other public associations, religious and other organizations, including foreign or international organizations or their representative offices (hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, - organizations), formations and individual entrepreneurs in planning, organizing, preparing and committing encroachments on the independence, territorial integrity,

sovereignty, the foundations of the constitutional system, public safety by means of:

·       violent change of the constitutional system and (or) territorial integrity of the Republic of Belarus;

·       seizure or retention of state power by unconstitutional means;

·       creation of an extremist formation or participation in an extremist formation;

·       assisting in the commission of extremist activities, undergoing training or other preparation for participation in such activities;

·       dissemination for these purposes of knowingly false information about the political, economic, social, military or international situation of the Republic of Belarus, the legal status of citizens in the Republic of Belarus, discrediting the Republic of Belarus;

·       insulting for these purposes a government official in connection with the performance of his official duties, discrediting state bodies of power and administration;

·       creation for these purposes of an illegal armed formation;

·       commission of terrorist activities;

·       inciting racial, national, religious or other social enmity or discord, political or ideological enmity, enmity or discord towards any social group, including committing unlawful acts for these purposes against public order and public morality, the order of administration, life and health, personal freedom, honor and dignity of the individual, property;

·       organization and commission of mass riots, acts of vandalism, associated with damage or destruction of property, seizure of buildings and structures, other actions that grossly violate public order

order, or active participation therein on grounds of racial, national, religious or other social enmity or discord, political or ideological enmity, enmity or discord in relation to any social group;

·       committing illegal actions in relation to weapons, ammunition, explosives for these purposes;

·       propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of citizens on the grounds of their social, racial, national, religious or linguistic affiliation;

·       dissemination of extremist materials, as well as manufacturing, publishing, storing or transporting such materials for the purpose of dissemination;

·       rehabilitation of Nazism, propaganda or public demonstration, manufacturing, dissemination of Nazi symbols and attributes, as well as storing or acquiring such symbols or attributes for the purpose of dissemination;

·       obstruction of lawful activities of state bodies, including the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for Elections and Referendums, election commissions, referendum commissions, commissions for conducting recall voting of a deputy, as well as lawful activities of officials of these bodies, commissions, committed with the use of violence, threat of its use, deception, bribery, as well as the use of violence or threat of violence against relatives of the said officials in order to obstruct their lawful activities or to force a change in the nature of such activities or out of revenge for the performance of their official duties;

·       financing of extremist activities;

·       public calls for organizing or holding illegal assemblies, rallies, street processions, demonstrations or picketing for these purposes in violation of the established procedure for their organization or

carrying out, or involving persons in participation in such mass events through violence, threat of violence, deception or payment of remuneration, or other organization or carrying out of such mass events, if their carrying out resulted by negligence in the death of people, infliction of grievous bodily harm to one or more persons, or infliction of damage on a large scale;

·       public calls for actions specified in paragraphs two - seventeen of the specified part, as well as public justification of such actions.

Pursuant to Article 6 of the aforementioned Law, including the prosecutor's offices, being subjects of counteraction to extremism within their competence, upon detection of facts of violation of legislation in the sphere of counteraction to extremism, as well as upon receipt of information about such facts, exercise powers to counteract extremism in accordance with the current legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

According to Article 19 of the Law, the dissemination, public display of extremist materials, their production, publication, storage and transportation for the purpose of dissemination are prohibited.

Extremist materials are symbols and attributes, information products (printed, audio, audiovisual and other information messages and (or) materials, posters, portraits, banners and other visual agitation, advertising products), intended for public

demonstrations, use and distribution, or distributed in any way for the purpose of engaging in extremist activities and their propaganda, and recognized as extremist materials by court decision.

Given that the information products posted on the named Internet resources contain calls for illegal actions listed above, they are considered extremist.

In connection with the foregoing, and also on the basis of Art. 19 of the Law, prosecutors of the regions of the Vitebsk region send applications to the territorial courts of the region in accordance with Art. 361-362 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus to recognize information products as extremist materials.

Subsequently, a copy of the court decision on recognizing information products as extremist materials is sent to the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus for inclusion of this information in the republican list of extremist materials, as well as for blocking Internet resources that contribute to the distribution of extremist materials in the Republic of Belarus.

Work in this direction continues.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Vitebsk Region

for supervision of the execution of legislation

on state security

Alexey Lysakov