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On August 7, 2018, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus disseminated information on the initiation of a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (unauthorized access to computer information, committed with a different personal interest, which caused significant harm). Over the past two days, offices were searched by a number of Belarusian media: BelaPAN, Tut.by, the newspaper Kultura, Realt.by.

ARTICLE 19 condemns the recent wave of police raids on independent media outlets in Belarus, resulting in the detention of several journalists, at least seven of which remain in detention. We call on the government of Belarus to immediately and unconditionally release all detained journalists and to refrain from further harassment.

Міжнародная і Еўрапейская федэрацыі журналістаў (IFJ / EFJ) падтрымала заклікі сябра-арганізацыі Беларускай асацыяцыі журналістаў (БАЖ) неадкладна вызваліць групу журналістаў, затрыманую пасля рэйдаў Следчага камітэта.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns today’s police raids on two leading independent media outlets in Minsk – the news agency BelaPAN and the news website Tut.by – which paralyzed their operations for several hours.

On the morning of 7 August, the Investigative Committee came with search warrants to the offices of Tut.by portal and news agency BelaPAN, as well as to the apartments of some journalists of these media. We currently know about the arrests of seven journalists.

August 7 Investigation Committee of Belarus spread information on the launch of a criminal case under Article 349 Part 2 of the Belarus Criminal Code (unauthorized access to computer information, made out of personal interest that caused significant damage). The police arresed journalists Maryna Zolatava, Hanna Kaltyhina, Halina Ulasik, Ulyana Babayed (Tut.by) and Tatsiana Karavenkova (BelaPAN). We know of detentions of several more journalists.

Several floors of the TUT.BY portal office located in the Omega Tower business center in Minsk are being searched.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities in Brest, a city on the Polish border in southwestern Belarus, to stop hounding Syarhey Pyatrukhin, a video blogger who has been subjected to arbitrary detention, a string of prosecutions and economic harassment.

Belsat TV journalist Volha Czajczyc has been recently tried in Dzyarzhynsk district court for contributing to a story about the anti-nuclear rally in the town of Zaslavl. The news story was televised on Belsat TV.

Several Belarusian bloggers have recently experienced pressure from the authorities.

In Hrodna, the police conducted searches at the local freelance journalists who cooperate with television channel – Alyaksandr Dzyanisau and Alyaksei Kairys.