The decision was announced by the Supreme Court of Belarus:

On June 14, 2022, by the decision of the Economic Court of Minsk, the limited liability company TUT BAY MEDIA was recognized as an extremist organization.

The activity of the limited liability company "TUT BAY MEDIA" on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is prohibited.

TUT BAY MEDIA Limited Liability Company has been decided to be liquidated, and the use of the symbols and attributes of TUT BAY MEDIA Limited Liability Company has been banned.

The decision is subject to immediate execution. "

What is the difference between an extremist organization and a formation?

From the point of view of Belarusian legislation, extremist organization and formation are different things with different legal consequences.

If an

registered on the territory of Belarus is recognized as extremist, its activities on the territory of Belarus are prohibited and it is liquidated on the basis of a court decision.

The law additionally prohibits the use of symbols and paraphernalia of such an organization.

Courts can make such decisions at the request of the prosecutor's office.

The property of the organization may also be seized.

Criminal liability is provided only for legal entities or individual entrepreneurs under Art.

423-1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (non-compliance with the decision to recognize the organization, the activities of an individual entrepreneur extremist).

For example, if a company places the Tut.by logo on its poster, its officials will face fines or imprisonment for up to 3 years.

Last May, the independent trade union Grodno Azot received the status of an "extremist organization".

"Extremist group"

is a group of citizens who carry out extremist activities, or who provide other assistance to extremist activities, or who recognize the possibility of its implementation in their activities, or who finance extremist activities in respect of which the Ministry of Internal Affairs has decided. about recognizing her as extremist.

The status of "extremist formation" can be assigned by the Interior Ministry or the KGB.

Criminal liability is provided for the creation, participation and financing of extremist groups.

Other classifications of "extremism":

• Extremist materials are a court decision made on information.

• An extremist group is a stable controlled group of two or more individuals who have previously joined forces to carry out extremist activities.

About the persecution of Tut.by.

• On May 18, the editorial office was blocked for publishing "information prohibited by law," and FIU officers came there.

  The agency later reported that a criminal case had been instituted against the officials for tax evasion on a particularly large scale.

  According to law enforcement officers, the resident of the High Technology Park received proceeds not due to the activities allowed for residents.

• A total of 15 people were detained in the case: managers, journalists and other staff of the media portal Tut.by (Lyudmila Chekina, Marina Zolotova, Olga Loika, Irina Rybalka, Elena Talkachova, Angela Assad, Maria Novik, Alla Lopatko, Alexander Daineka, Andrei Avdeev, Dar Danilova, Ekaterina Tkachenko and Irina Kostyuchenko), as well as the General Director of Hoster.by Sergei Pavalishev (released on September 1) and the widow of the founder of Tut.by Julia Chernyavskaya.

  Human rights activists have recognized them as political prisoners.

• The widow of the founder of the portal Yuri Zisser Yulia Chernyavskaya is now under house arrest, two days after her detention nothing was known about her, she suffered a hypertensive crisis and was hospitalized for some time.

• The site Tut.by was blocked by the decision of the Ministry of Information.

• In December 2020, Tut.by was deprived of media status at the request of the Ministry of Information.

  The reason was earlier warnings about the materials on the presidential election, the activities of the State Control Committee, the Belarusian customs, etc.

• In the evening of June 27, the portal deleted all posts from social networks for the last year and a half.

• On August 13, the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk declared the information products and social networks of Tut.by and the new project of Zerkalo.io extremists.

• On October 7, the Investigative Committee announced a new criminal case against Tutbayevs for inciting hostility committed by a group of individuals (Part 3, Article 130).

  They face up to 12 years in prison.