Belarus May Declare Writers Of Nexta Telegram Channel Extremists - Investigative Committee

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2021) The Belarusian Investigative Committee said Saturday it was launching a procedure to declare the authors of Nexta Telegram channel an extremist group and ban their activity in the country.

"At the moment, the Investigative Committee office in Minsk is launching a procedure to recognize the newsroom, which was de facto established by Stepan Putilo and other people, as a foreign extremist organization and ban its activities in Belarus," the committee said on its website.

According to the committee, case materials refer to the channel's multiple calls for protests, blocking roads, strikes and unauthorized mass events.

Nexta's channels in Telegram messenger have already been declared extremist in Belarus.

Meanwhile, as of Saturday, there are no mass protests and next to zero protest activities in the country, the committee said. There were small groups of people carrying 'unregistered symbols" in Minsk, and some protesters were taken to police stations, but there are no mass detentions, the committee said.