Belarusian authorities on Thursday blocked access to the independent news site “Nasha Niva” and sent it to the police.
–
–
Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
–
Authorities say access to “Nasha Niva” has been blocked because the media has published content that the authorities consider illegal. No further information on the reasons for the blockade was disclosed by the authorities. The decision to block the media has been made by the Ministry of Information.
Nasha Niva initially reported on social media that it had lost contact with several employees, including editor-in-chief Yegor Martinovich, but later announced that Martinovich had been detained. Martinovich’s wife has confirmed on social network that he has been detained.
The human rights center “Vyasna” (“Spring”), referring to eyewitnesses, reported that security services have entered the editorial office of “Nasha Niva”.
The Nasha Niva channel on the social network Telegram reported that employees’ homes had also been searched.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists, meanwhile, reported that the editor-in-chief of another independent news site, orsha.eu, had been detained and access to the media’s IT media blocked. The independent newspaper in Brest and the office of the portal “Intex-Press” also reported that they had been raided.
Last year, after the presidential election, in which the long-term leader of the country was declared the winner Alexander Lukashenko, Widespread protests broke out in Belarus and were suppressed. Among other things, the Lukashenko regime has cracked down on independent media and journalists who covered the protests. Several journalists have been sentenced to long prison terms in recent months.
The popular news site “Tut.by” was blocked in May and several of its employees were arrested and charged with tax evasion. Tut.by announced today that it will continue to operate under the name “zerkalo.io”.
Recently, Tut.by distributed its content mainly through the Telegram channel, which has more than half a million followers. The media is now available online again under the new name.
–
