The Belarusian human rights defender and head of the “Our House” Human Rights Center was once again added to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ list of “extremists,” now as part of a registry of individuals “involved in extremist activities.”

The Belarusian regime has consistently attempted to tag Karach and all associated organizations with the “extremist” label, seemingly hoping that by repeatedly using the term “extremist” in reference to her, people will eventually accept and believe it.

This situation is starting to resemble a joke.

For instance, just yesterday, on October 10, 2023, the Molodechno District Court in the Minsk region declared Olga Karach’s account on the social network “VKontakte” extremist. The court ordered immediate enforcement of this decision under Article 314 of the Civil Procedure Code of Belarus, citing “special circumstances”—essentially, that if the ruling were not enforced right away, its implementation could become impossible. But what’s the rush? If Karach’s VKontakte account isn’t immediately labeled “extremist,” what will happen?

“Our House” is frankly amazed by the variety of courts involved in adding Olga Karach and her organization to the list of extremists. It almost seems like “mining”—each court seems to receive some sort of reward for unearthing yet another “Our House” account or platform on social networks. And there’s still plenty of work ahead for them!

Earlier, on June 6, 2022, the Central District Court of Minsk added the “Olga Karach” YouTube channel to the extremist list.

Around the same time, the same court labeled her Telegram channel, “Olga Karach,” as extremist as well.

On May 18, 2021, this same Central District Court went further, taking issue with other channels. First, it designated the YouTube channel “NASH DOM TV” as extremist, despite the fact that it features standard educational and human rights content.

Following that, the court also flagged the Telegram channel “Our House” with the link t.me/nash_dom, as well as “NASH DOM TV” at t.me/dom_tv.

On January 14, 2022, the courts targeted the Nash Dom website (nash-dom.info), where, ironically, it details how Nash Dom “extremists” distribute free food. This site was flagged as problematic by the Zheleznodorozhny District Court in Vitebsk. On the same day, the court also deemed the entire Vitebsk Courier problematic, a publication where Olga Karach’s husband, Oleg Borshchevsky, had served as editor.

Later, on June 19, 2023, the Krupsky District Court added NASH DOM TV on TikTok (@house_by) to the list of extremist materials.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) then joined in by officially declaring Our House an extremist formation on May 4, 2022, through Decision No. 20EK. According to the MVD, Our House allegedly extends its influence through its website, Telegram, television, news outlets, and even general discussions and small talks.

But Olga Karach, the “extremist,” didn’t stop there!

Her activities have also been linked to other organizations now labeled as extremist formations:

These include the Belarusian Association of Journalists, which, according to the KGB’s decision on February 28, 2023 (№ 4/8-403), is managed by prominent figures such as A.L. Bastunets (b. 1966), O.V. Ageev (b. 1977), B.K. Goretsky (b. 1987), Z.P. Lukashuk (b. 1977), S.V. Komlach (b. 1972), and other officials.

Another example is the Forum of Democratic Forces of Belarus, an organization deemed dangerous by the KGB as an “extremist formation” on June 9, 2022 (№ 4/2-936). Interestingly, the forum has no listed leadership, but it is nonetheless classified as a threat.

And now we’ve reached the Vitebsk Courier. The Railway Court of Vitebsk, on the same day it listed the “Our House” website as “undesirable materials,” also added the online resource Vitebsk Courier News, its Telegram channel “News of Vitebsk – Vitebsk Courier News,” and the chat group “Vitebsk. Hot News Discussion Chat.”

Perhaps the crowning element of all these lists is the list of persons involved in terrorist activities, traditionally published on the KGB website. Listed as number 773 among notable individuals like Osama Al-Kuni Ibrahim is Olga Karach herself, with Alexander Lukashenko personally sharing the details of the matter.

This is how, back in 2021, the KGB and Alexander Lukashenko envisioned the human rights defender Olga Karach and her supposed “immediate superior.”

And to end with an amusing anecdote: on February 7, 2023, the courts seemed to discover how to conduct internet searches, and by typing in “Our House,” they stumbled upon a song titled “Our House Belarus.” However, the Gomel District Court is unlikely to receive any awards for adding it to the list of extremist materials, as the song has no connection to the Our House organization whatsoever.

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