Andrey Kukharchik

Affiliated media: Virtual Brest, Editor

Incident date: August 19, 2021

Attack type:

• Prosecution for extremism, links with terrorists, inciting hatred, high treason, calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order, rehabilitation of Nazism (2)

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Brest

Additional information:

Andrei Kukharchik, editor of the Virtual Brest website, was fined around 100 USD by the Moskovsky District Court for “the dissemination of extremist materials” (Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code). The court also ordered the confiscation the journalist’s computer. Kukharchik’s prosecution followed an image taken for an article about the detention of Vladimir Gundar. In the image, they could be seen wearing clothing with Belarusian national insignia. The Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption argued that the image depicted a swastika, and as such the court recognised this as “extremist material.”