Issue of ARCHE magazine found “extremist”

Today morning a trial has started in Brest. It is to recognize the 7-8th issue of the independent “ARCHE” magazine extremist.

Judge has announced that the session of the court is to be held behind the closed doors, so only a KGB representative and the lawyer of the magazine are present at the hearings.

People who have gathered to support the magazine and its editors haven’t been allowed to be present in the court room.

As a result, the issue number 7-8 of “ARCHE” has been recognized extremist. Judge hadn’t asked any questions. Lawyer Pavel Sapelka states that the ruling is illegal.

The editor-in-chief of the magazine Valer Bulhakau has called charges absurd. As said by him, there is a practice of one hand washing the other in state agencies, and the KGB wants to assume functions of an ideological censor.

As we have informed, on October 24 last year an officer of Brest customs office Renata Nyadbaeva decided that information in the issue number 7-8 of “ARCHE” “could damage to national interests of the Republic of Belarus”. 10 copies of the magazine found in the things of historian Ales Pashkevich were seized for expert examination. The regional KGB department asked to recognize confiscated magazines extremist materials and destroy them.

The issue of the magazine was dedicated to “parliamentary elections” last autumn, which was called not democratic and not free by the OSCE.