The Office of the Investigative Committee for Minsk initiated the recognition of the editorial office of the Telegram channel NEXTA as a foreign extremist organization and the prohibition of its activities on the territory of Belarus. This was reported on Saturday, March 27, on the website of the IC of the republic.
They clarified that the materials have been prepared and have already been submitted to the competent authorities for making a decision.
“Work continues on the investigation of the criminal case opened on the fact of the illegal activities of Stepan Putilo and other persons, in terms of the functioning of the telegram channels created and managed by them that distribute extremist materials,” the ministry said in a statement.
Thus, the investigation added to the materials of the criminal case the facts of calls for protests, blocking roads, strikes, coordination of unauthorized mass events, indicating specific locations, as well as routes of movement posted on Telegram channels.
Based on all the data collected, the investigators in the activities of Putilo and other persons “identified signs of a foreign extremist organization.”
Putilo is the creator of the NEXTA and NEXTA Life Telegram channels. He himself was reportedly in Poland. So, in February, the Investigative Committee of Belarus sent documents to Poland for the extradition of Putilo and the former editor-in-chief of the channel, Roman Protasevich.
In December 2020, the KGB of Belarus included Putilo and Protasevich in the list of organizations and individuals involved in terrorist activities. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry appealed to Poland with a demand to extradite both citizens as soon as possible.
At the same time, on October 20, the court of the Central District of Minsk recognized the NEXTA Live Telegram channel and the NEXTA logo as extremist.