Andrei Bastunets: article for “extremism” will be used on wide scale

Members of the Belarusian “parliament” adopt more and more restrictive laws.

A draft law providing for criminal and administrative responsibility for spreading extremist materials will be considered at the spring session of the “house of representatives”.

According to the draft law, if there are no elements of crime in such actions as publishing, spreading and keeping extremist materials, they will be fined 10–50 basic units for individuals, 50–100 for individual entrepreneurs and 100–500 for legal persons. A Euramost.org correspondent asked head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Andrei Bastunets to comment on possible negative affects of these innovations for journalists and mass media.

– What threat may it have for, above all, journalists working for independent media?

– The main threat is evidently a fine, as provided by the article. But I’d like to turn your attention to the fact that extremism is a serious crime. When administrative responsibility is expanded for it, this means limits of responsibility are extended. It used to be clear that extremist activity includes a number of different offences. Now, this senseless term “extremism activity” in the Law on Countering Extremism has a threat that article of administrative responsibility will be used on a wide scale.

– Today, when definition of extremism, proposed by the law, is so obscure, the authorities try to find it even in a part of a sentence, as it can be noticed with ARCHE magazine. Can now extremism be found in a separate word?

– The experience shows that cases with ARCHE, record of Solidarity with Belarus gig, Belarusian Language Lesson movie, show that the term “extremism” can have broad interpretation. This interpretation doesn’t depend on administrative responsibility for extremist activity. if earlier KGB officer had a choice whether to instigate a criminal case or eliminate materials, now they will bring to administrative responsibility those who produced, spread, or kept these materials.

– Is it possible to say that this innovation will make it “easier” for the law enforcement agencies to find “extremists”?

– Not surely, in any case, courts will be involved. But the law enforcement agencies will have more place for their activity. If early in some case it had no sense to open a criminal case, now administrative punishment can be used.

– Is this a method of intimidation amid crisis?

– This proposal can be explained only in this way.

– Can it be forecasted now that the number of convicted “extremists” will increase significantly in our country?

– I think it won’t affect criminal cases. If we examine the practice of using the Law on Countering Extremism, we’ll see there were no criminal cases. There were some cases, but they weren’t sent to court, only “extremist materials” were eliminated. If there had been an article on administrative responsibility at that time, it would have been possible to bring individuals and legal persons to administrative responsibilities.

– Why is it happening during the so called liberalization?

– It demonstrates that our “liberalization” has declarative character. In legal sphere, nothing has changed for better. All norms of both administrative and criminal laws, considered to be very strict, remain, and moreover, new restrictive laws are adopted.

– Can the BAJ influence the situation and prevent adopting this draft law?

– We’ll try to address the “house of representatives”. Unfortunately, they don’t listen to all our arguments. However, we’ll do all we can.