Сергей Михалок. Фото: facebook.com/brutto.official
The Interior Ministry has added five more people to the “List of Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, Foreign Citizens or Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activities.”
Among them is well-known musician Siarhei Mikhalok. The leader of Lyapis Trubetskoy, Brutto and other projects was sentenced in early August to four years in prison to be served in a general-regime penal colony. He was found guilty of inciting hatred and insulting Lukashenka (Part 1, Article 130 and Part 1, Article 368 of the Criminal Code). According to the prosecutor’s office, the criminal case against Siarhei Mikhalok was based on social media posts published by his Brutto project in 2021-2022.
The list also includes Hleb Herasimovich and Aliaksandr Milkamanovich, who were detained as part of a case linked to the designation of the “Green Network” coalition of initiatives as an “extremist formation.” The coalition includes the Belarus Beehive, Green Portal and Ecological House projects, as well as Uladzimir Yurkevich and Helena Talenets.
The “extremist” list now contains 6,824 names.
Belarusian authorities regularly use extremism charges to target political opponents and dissent more broadly.