The Belarusian authorities recognized the news agency “BelaPAN” as an extremist community

The Belarusian news agency “BelaPAN” and its website have been recognized by the authorities as extremist. This is stated in the corresponding list of organizations published on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the document, the decision was made by the KGB of Belarus on November 1, transfers RIA News”. According to the authorities, “a group of citizens from among the employees of the news agency BelaPAN is carrying out extremist activities.”

On August 18, it was reported that the Belarusian security forces came with searches to several BelaPAN employees: editor-in-chief Irina Levshina, accountant Yekaterina Boeva, journalists Zakhar Shcherbakov and Irina Turchina, and former director of the agency Dmitry Novozhilov. They were suspected of organizing gross violations of public order. And on August 27, the Investigative Committee of Belarus named the publication’s employees suspected of tax violations. The investigation estimated the damage to the budget at more than 100 thousand Belarusian rubles.

On August 28, Boeva ​​was released on an obligation to appear. She remains a suspect. The agency’s office is sealed. The servers of the editorial office and the website of “BelaPAN” were seized by the security forces.