“Don't Spread Panic, We Are All Honest People.” Relatives of Prisoners Don't Believe They Have Been Recognized as Members of an “Extremist Formation”

KGB of Belarus. Photo: LookByMedia

On April 6, 2026, the KGB made a decision to designate the chat "Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 Kalyadzichy" as an extremist formation. This is a defunct chat for relatives of detainees, where questions were discussed about what could be included in parcels and what could not, how to properly send packages, and what the schedule of the pre-trial detention center was. At its peak, it had about 1900 people, but after the chat was recognized as "extremist materials," the administrators deleted it.

Into the same "formation," the KGB included 10 Telegram chats, 9 Viber chats, and 3 VKontakte communities. All of these are communities for relatives of prisoners — the women's penal colony chat in Gomel, the men's penal colony chat in Babruysk, and so on.

Each group has hundreds and thousands of members (Viber chat of the men's penal colony in Mogilev — 1400+ people, Viber chat of the men's penal colony in Shklov — almost 1000 people, VKontakte community of the men's penal colony in Babruysk — 3500 people), but most subscribers are nominally present there, showing no activity at all or asking a question once a year. Now they are all under threat — under current law enforcement practice, their activity falls under Part 3 of Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation). And this means up to 4 years of restricted freedom or 2 to 6 years in a penal colony.

The KGB (whether intentionally or not) has complicated the situation.

Firstly, when you open the table of extremist formations, the corresponding cell does not list specific prohibited Telegram chats, only their IDs. For example, "Telegram chat ID 542733250" without any name. Consequently, a chat participant cannot even understand if they are in a prohibited community, as the chat ID is only available to the administrator.

Secondly, the table is designed so awkwardly that initially it only displays a list of IDs of prohibited Telegram chats. But if you click on the cell, a list of prohibited Viber chats and VKontakte communities is also shown. It is not obvious to an ordinary person that this list can be expanded.

Павялічыць

Initial view

Павялічыць

View when clicking on the cell

As a result, administrators refuse to delete their groups and accuse those who warn of danger of spreading panic.

“Dear administration. Block this person, let them not spread fear. We are all already on edge,” writes one woman. “Here in the group, people are asking what and how to send, and you just won't calm down!” adds another.

“Did someone write something bad? Did they call for anything? What kind of information dump is this? Why stir people up? Don't spread panic, we are all honest and normal people,” a third continues, convinced that some mistake has occurred.

Several communities — for example, the Viber chat of the women's penal colony in Gomel — have already been deleted, but in the others, live discussions continue.

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