Events

24 Mar 2021

Anti-extremism bill to be sent to lower house of Belarusian Parliament soon

An archive photo

MINSK, 24 March (BelTA) - The bill on countering extremism will be sent to the House of Representatives soon, Valery Shulyak, the head of the security legislation oversight committee at the Prosecutor General’s Office, told the media in Minsk on 24 March, BelTA has learned.

“Drawing on the national and international experience of law enforcement, the Prosecutor General’s Office has prepared a new version of the Law on Countering Extremism in cooperation with other stakeholders. Preliminary work on the bill has been completed. Soon it will be submitted to the House of Representatives for consideration,” Valery Shulyak said. “It should be borne in mind that the bill on countering extremism is not the only document regulating this area: the related legislation encompasses criminal, administrative legislation, legislation on mass events, mass media, political parties and other public associations. The entire body of this legislation is currently being audited and fined-tuned,” he said.

Valery Shulyak noted that the bill offers new definitions of the concepts “extremism”, “extremist materials”. It also formalizes, for the first time, the terms “extremist symbols and paraphernalia”, “extremist group”. “For the first time we have formulated the concept of extremism (extremist activity) not only as a list of certain criminal acts but as purposeful activities to plan, organize, prepare and commit actions to encroach on independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty, the foundations of the constitutional order, public security of Belarus,” he said. Alongside with information products the bill suggests recognizing symbols and paraphernalia intended for extremist activities or propaganda as extremist materials.

The bill also expands the list of acts related to extremist activities. The list now includes participation in an extremist group; promoting extremist activities, training to participate in such activities; dissemination of false information about the political, economic, social, military or international standing of Belarus, legal status of citizens in the country; preparation for storming and storming of buildings and structures; violation of the procedures governing mass events if it entails a wrongful death, grievous bodily harm or financial or physical damage on a large scale; offenses against public order and public morale, governance procedures, life and health, personal freedom, honor and dignity of an individual and also against property that are committed in order to incite racial, national, religious or other social hatred or discord.

The bill suggests expanding the list of government agencies in charge of countering extremism to include judicial bodies, financial watchdogs, local executive and administrative bodies, ministries of education and information. The previous legislation did not define a body responsible for coordinating the efforts of all actors in countering extremism. This omission has been eliminated, as the bill suggests assigning the coordinating function to the internal affairs bodies, which will allow promptly responding to emerging challenges and threats.

“A procedure has been established to ban unregistered groups of people that pursue obviously extremist goals. The term ‘extremist group’ is defined as a group of people who carry out extremist activities or might be involved in them in the future, or people who finance or promote such activities. The activities of such groups are prohibited through an extra-judicial procedure following a decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the State Security Committee, which, in turn, can be appealed in court by interested persons,” Valery Shulyak noted.

In order to make decisions faster when it comes to suspension of activities of an extremist organization (it can be a political party, a public association, an editorial office of a mass media), prosecutors will get additional powers to counter and prevent extremist activities. Prosecutors of the oblasts and the city of Minsk, along with the prosecutor general, will be authorized to suspend activities of organizations, to file lawsuits for recognizing them extremist organizations, prohibiting their activities and eliminating them.

The suspension of operation of these organizations and individual entrepreneurs will entail a broader range of consequences. In particular, they will not be allowed to hold congresses, conferences, general meetings, take part in the work of state bodies, to use their symbols and paraphernalia. In line with the bill, the state security bodies, the police and prosecutors have the right to issue an official warning to individuals, founders and heads of organizations, as well as individual entrepreneurs when they see manifestations of extremist actions (when there are no sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution). Failure to comply with the demands of the authorized bodies, as well as the repeated issuance of an order within a year are punishable by the elimination of an organization, ban of the operation of an individual entrepreneur.

The bill sets out legal consequences for organizations recognized as extremist, including foreign and international ones. Thus, founders and participants of extremist organizations will not be allowed to set up new organizations and mass media outlets for the period of five years. The same consequences apply to a person whose activities as an individual entrepreneur are recognized as extremist and are prohibited. These persons will be banned from registering as individual entrepreneurs for five years from the day the ruling to suspend activities enters into force. The bill also describes the expedited procedure to recognize symbols, paraphernalia, and information products as extremist materials. At the request of prosecutors or authorized government authorities, courts will give priority to considering such cases.

In order to oversee the implementation of decisions made by government authorities in the field of enforcing anti-extremism legislation, the bill will authorize the Ministry of Internal Affairs to keep and publish records of organizations, groups, individual entrepreneurs, and citizens involved in extremist activities.

In line with the bill, failure to execute a court ruling on banning activities of organizations, foreign or international organizations, individual entrepreneurs or banning the use of their symbols and paraphernalia will result in a criminal or other forms of prosecution.

“Citizens found guilty of extremist activities will be added to the appropriate record and banned from certain activities that involve trafficking of drugs, weapons, ammunition, explosives as well as teaching and publishing activities. They will not be allowed to hold a public office and serve in the military. Financial operations of such citizens will be under strict control. After such rulings enter into force, foreign citizens and stateless persons added to the record will be banned from entering the territory of Belarus and citizens of Belarus will lose their acquired citizenship,” Valery Shulyak added.

The bill sets forth that financing of extremist activities is unacceptable and such offenses will be prosecuted under legislation and will be seen as the main reason for suspending or dissolving organizations and stripping perpetrators of the individual entrepreneur status.

“We believe that the updated version of the Law on Countering Extremism will help make anti-extremism efforts more comprehensive and targeted as well as improve the legal and organizational framework for countering extremism to defend rights, freedoms, and interests of every person and to ensure safety of our nation and the state in general,” Valery Shulyak said.



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