"On December 23, 2021 the Interior Ministry declared a group of citizens brought together by Radio Liberty internet pages as an extremist grouping," a statement read.
The radio’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts were similarly outlawed. Their administrators and members face up to 7 years in prison, according to the ministry.
According to the Belarusian human rights center Vesna, which is not registered officially, a journalist working for Radio Liberty has been detained in Minsk on Thursday.
“Oleg [Gruzdilovich] is a suspect in the criminal case ‘organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order or active participation in them,” Vesna wrote on its Telegram channel.
The journalist was detained in his house in the Belarusian capital, it added.