Charges pronounced to Russian website authors in Belarus

Authors of the Russian website Regnum have been pronounced charges in Belarus. They are accused of arousing national, racial and religious hostility (p.3, article 130 of the Criminal Code) and of doing illegal business (p.3, article 233 of the Criminal Code). Yury Paulavets and Syarhei Shyptenka have been accused of both crimes and Dzmitry Alimkin has been accused of arousing national, racial and religious hostility, the Investigation Committee spokesperson Yulia Hancharova told Alfa-Radio. The investigation of this criminal case is about to be finished, she noted.

The authors of the Russian website Regnum were detained in Belarus in December 2016. Alimkin, Paulavets and Shyptenka used pen names. They wrote articles about the political and economic situation in our country. The fact that criminal cases ‘for illegal business’ were started against Paulavets and Shyptenka was announced in June. All the three are still in jail.

One more person involved in the case is Belarusian citizen Yury Baranchyk living in Moscow, BELTA reports. He is the editor-in-chief of Regnum’s analytical department. He is wanted in Belarus. Baranchyk was detained in Moscow in March 2017. He wrote a letter to Putin and asked for political asylum in Russia. He was released soon afterwards. The Belarusian police are aware that Baranchyk is still in Russia, Hancharova said. The corresponding documents have been sent to Moscow. Baranchyk is accused of ‘arousing national, racial and religious hostility’.