The day before, a law came into force in Belarus allowing employees of the Ministry of the Interior to use weapons and other special means against demonstrators. Alexander Volfovich, Secretary of the State Security Council, warned that military forces from hostile countries were gathering around Belarus, while the Ministry of Defense held a missile force readiness test.
Attack on two fronts
Tut.by Belarusian law enforcement closed the editorial office at noon on Tuesday, but searches of its staff’s residences continued until late in the evening. Yesterday it became known that a total of 14 employees of the website were detained, including the editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova, writes RFERL.org. They are suspected of large-scale tax evasion and can be detained for up to 72 hours without formal charges under Belarusian law. Tut.by has violated the regulations applicable to the residents of the High Technology Park established on the outskirts of Minsk (this status was acquired by the website in 2019). Namely, they have made a profit from an activity that is not allowed to residents who have been granted tax relief, therefore they owe a significant amount of money to the state, writes Jellyfish. Such crimes in Belarus are punishable by up to seven years in prison.
At the same time against Tut.by there has also been an attack by the authorities on another front. The Belarusian Ministry of Information has blocked access to the news site and its copies in response to a request from the Prosecutor General’s Office. The reason given is the fact that Tut.by has published materials prepared by the foundation BYSOL (which deals with assistance to victims of political repression).
As this fund is not registered in Belarus, Tut.by accused of non-compliance with media law, writes AP. Newsru.com emphasizes that Tut.by is one of the most popular Internet resources in Belarus. In April last year, about 64% of the country’s Internet users, or almost 3.37 million people, searched for information.
Tikhanovsky asks for help
Svetlana Tikhanovska, the leader of the Belarusian opposition living in exile in Lithuania since last autumn, has asked the international community to immediately support Tut.by wording, stating that what is happening now is the “deliberate murder of an independent publication”, writes Jellyfish. Tikhanyovsky has already contacted European Commission President Urzula von der Leien, urging that a program be drawn up as soon as possible to help the independent media in Belarus, protect journalists and enable them to continue their work despite the repression. “We insist on the need to impose sanctions on all those responsible for the repression of editorials, journalists and bloggers,” Tihanovska said in a statement. Jellyfish.
The US State Department has responded to what has happened in Belarus. So spokesman Ned Praiss tweeted that law enforcement raids Tut.by The Belarusian authorities are another example of the Belarusian authorities’ systematic attempts to silence independent expression and to punish journalists who objectively reflect the situation in the country. “Belarusians need a free press, they deserve it,” Prays said. The US Embassy in Belarus has also condemned the authorities’ crackdown on the website, citing a difficult verifiable pretext for tax evasion.
With statements supporting Tut.by employees, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, an international organization Reporters Without Borders and a human rights organization Amnesty International. They stressed that the Lukashenko regime has continued the tactics used since last August’s elections, trying to silence anyone who points out that something is wrong in the country and calling on the people to mobilize to fight the external enemy – neighboring NATO countries (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia). ), in which plans to invade Belarus have already been made.
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