Mr Vasilevich, do you mean us?

The Prosecutor General of Belarus hopes to bring living abroad owners of Belarusian Internet resources to responsibility.

Ryhor Vasilevich said this in an interview to “Zvyazda” newspaper on occasion of celebration of the Day of Prosecutors.

Answering a question about the measures to be taken to “put order on the Internet”, Vasilevich said:

“Publications on the Internet should respond all the requirements to publications in other media. In my opinion, an owner of an Internet resource must answer for information that has insulting or defaming character or harms relations between countries. We may have certain difficulties with bringing these people to responsibility, because they often live outside Belarus. I think some international arrangements in this sphere will be adopted in future. As for legal responsibility of an individual for insulting or publishing libel on the Internet, the Criminal Code gives this opportunity. But in practice, it’s rare that courts hear such cases. For instance, the Leninski district court of Hrodna considers a case against a correspondent of a Polish newspaper, Andrzej Poczobut. The journalist is charged over insults and libel in his publications. Depending on whether his guilt will be proved or not, we will be able to judge how our judicial practice is forming.”