Creator Of 1863x.com Website May Be in Bryansk Prison

A citizen of Belarus, creator of the 1863x.com website, known under the nickname John Silver, is behind the bars in the prison of Bryansk, Russian Federation.

An odious media outlet Sputnik&Pogrom (S&P) has informed this on April 18 in the article “Ethnical Pole Helps Belarusians Build Anti-Russian Nationalism – A Cautionary Tale”, BelaPAN news agency informs.

According to the information provided by S&P, the Belarusian was arrested on January 23 in Bryansk, after he had tried to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border.

“The founder of the main russophobic media resource of the ex-BSSR is 25-year-old native of the Western Belarusian town Lida, acting Catholic, ethnical Pole Eduard Aliaksandravich Palchys. He went to Russia…in search of a job. He failed to get a political asylum in Ukraine,” the media outlet writes.

The article contains a photo. Someone who knows the 1863x.com founder personally confirmed to BelaPAN news agency that it was indeed John Silver in the photo.

According to S&P, Eduard Palchys will either be extradited to Belarus where the authorities have started a criminal case against him for stirring up national hatred and pornography distribution, or face the court proceeding in Russia under Article 289 of the Criminal Code (stirring up hatred or hostility, humiliation of human dignity) for two publications “Kremlin Must Be Demolished” and “How to Kill the Russian World” (both materials have already been deleted from the website 1863x.com).

The information that the anonymous creator of the website 1863x.com, aka John Silver, was detained in one of the Russian cities, first appeared in late January 2016. According to non-official data, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs had put him on the wanted list for breaking the non-leave obligation.

On March 1, the Investigatory Committee of Belarus confirmed the existence of the criminal case started over the fact of publishing certain materials at 1863x.com. Official representative of the Investigatory Committee Julia Hancharova has informed to BelaPAN that the Committee started the case under Part 1 Article 130 (stirring up race, national or religious hatred or hostility) and Part 2 Article 343 (distribution of pornographic materials) of the Criminal Code. The investigation is in progress.

The website 1863х.com was created about a year and a half ago. It published political materials, which often included sharp criticism of the Belarusian and Russian authorities. The founder of the website updated it anonymously. The only way to communicate with him was the Internet – he contacted the authors and gave interviews with the help of the world wide web.

In November 2015 John Silver informed on his website: “Half a year ago, on May 5, 2015 I was detained by an operative group of the special forces. I spent a month in a mental hospital, they started two criminal cases against me, and I was forced to leave Belarus in early October 2015.” It is known that he was staying in Ukraine lately. The website has not been updated since then.