Irina Levshina

Affiliated media: BelaPAN, Editor-in-chief

Incident date: November 18, 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, Minsk

Additional information:

Irina Levshina, the editor-in-chief of the BelaPAN news agency, and Dzmitry Navazhylau, the former director of the company, were charged with "forming an extremist group." Earlier, on 1 November, the State Security Committee (extrajudicially) recognised BelaPAN as an "extremist group." "A number of people working the BelaPAN information agency are carrying out extremist activities" - the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs website claimed. Levshina and Navazhylau have been held in a pre-trial detention centre since 18 August, for allegedly "organising mass riots" (Article 342 of the Criminal Code). Later, the Investigative Committee stated that they had been accused of tax evasion (Article 243 of the Criminal Code).