Court cancels extremism warning

On 23 February, the Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk considered a complaint filed by a youth detained during a rock concert officially warned in January about the inadmissibility of violation of Article 10 of the Law “On Countering Extremism”.

In late January, human rights defenders learned about the warning after a police raid on a punk concert in Minsk and the arrest of a number of fans.

Since, according to Article 10 of the law on combating extremism, an official warning to citizens can only be issued “when there are signs of preparation for the commission of acts referred to in the first part of Article 1 of this Act”, one of the activists, taking advantage of his legal right, appealed the preventive warning.

Having considered the complaint, Judge Natallia Piatukh found the warning unfounded and ruled to cancel it. This judgment confirms the opinion of human rights defenders who argue that police officers had no reason to suspect activists who had not previously been prosecuted for extremism of committing of such acts in the future.