Authorities have blocked a popular news site in Belarus that covered months of protests against the country’s authoritarian president and have raided its office and the homes of its journalists.
Belarusian authorities maintained that Tut.by violated media laws by publishing content on behalf of BYSOL, a foundation that helps victims of political repression. They said the foundation lacked proper state registration.
Officials also accused Tut.by of tax evasion and launched a criminal probe of the site’s top staff members, who could face charges that carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
Белорусский портал TUT.BY has been the flagship of Belarusian journalism for the past 20 years, read and appreciated by… Posted by European Union in Belarus on Tuesday, May 18, 2021
The authorities raided Tut.by’s offices in Minsk and other regions, and the homes of some of its journalists on Tuesday, breaking the door to enter the flat of Maryna Zolatava, the site’s chief editor.
At least four more Tut.by employees – a journalist, an editor and two top managers – were taken in for questioning, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said.
Independent media in Belarus came under pressure in the wake of mass protests triggered by President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election.
Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, won his sixth term in office in an August election. Opposition supporters and some poll workers said the election was riddled with fraud, and the opposition rejected the results.
Mr Lukashenko also unleashed a harsh crackdown on the demonstrations, the largest of which drew up to 200,000 people. More than 34,000 people have been arrested since August, and thousands were brutally beaten.
The authorities have also targeted independent media outlets, detaining journalists covering the protests and levelling criminal charges against some of them. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 16 reporters are currently behind bars awaiting trial or serving sentences.
In September, the government stripped Tut.by of its media credentials. It continued to operate regardless, but two of its journalists remain in prison.
Katsiaryna Barysevich was sentenced to six months over her investigation into a protester’s death, and Lyubov Kasperovich was sentenced to 15 days in jail on Monday after covering a trial related to the protests.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists has issued a statement urging the Belarusian government to stop impeding the work of the media.
“The actions against the biggest and the most popular news site of the country are part of a deliberate government policy to restrict uncensored information in the country,” the statement said.
“After the 2020 presidential election in Belarus, dozens of socio-political and media sites were blocked in Belarus, and a number of print outlets were forced to stop publishing.”
The European Union delegation to Belarus also condemned the crackdown on Tut.by in a Facebook statement.
“TUT.BY has been the flagship of Belarusian journalism for the past 20 years, read and appreciated by most internet users in the country and many beyond it, as well as by diplomats working with Belarus. Freedom of the media must be upheld,” the statement said.
