Rare Case: Serviceman Gets Acquitted Over ‘Extremist’ Charges

How did he manage to get away?

Dozens of people are being tried in Belarus under administrative charges for the so-called “distribution of extremist materials.” This is how authorities interpret subscriptions to independent publications and Telegram channels.

But in Krupki the man was acquitted, such subscriptions were found on the defendant’s account, but he was not convicted, writes Radio Svaboda.

The administrative case was considered by the Krupki District Court (Minsk Region).

According to the protocol, a serviceman from a military unit in the village of Bobr, Krupki district, was prosecuted under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“distribution of extremist materials”), since he had subscriptions to “Maya Kraina Belarus” and “Typical Borisov” on his phone on the Vkontakte social network, which are included in the so-called list of extremist materials.

At the trial, the serviceman “did not admit guilt in committing an offense and explained that he actually had subscriptions. However, he claimed to have had no intention of distributing them; he did not know that they were “extremist materials,” since the subscription was made about five years ago. The man hasn’t “looked at the content of these communities for a long time.”

The court decided that the case should be dismissed on the basis that “the actions do not constitute an administrative offense.” The Honor 90 phone was returned to the military man.