Belarus’ oldest newspaper is banned as extremist

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ oldest newspaper has been banned on the 115th anniversary of its founding, the latest move in a relentless government crackdown on independent media in the ex-Soviet nation. The Nasha Niva newspaper was outlawed as extremist Tuesday by the Central District court in Minsk, which acted upon the request of the Ministry of Information. The ruling exposes anyone who would publish or repost Nasha Niva materials to prison terms of up to seven years. Nasha Niva extensively covered massive anti-government protests that erupted last year after President Alexander Lukashenko was handed a sixth term in an August 2020 presidential vote that the opposition and the West have denounced as rigged.