Fresh criminal case opened against ТУТ.бай journalists, executives

In a state­ment on Thurs­day, the Inves­tiga­tive Committee’s press office said that the crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings had been insti­tut­ed under the Crim­i­nal Code’s Arti­cle 130, which penal­izes incite­ment to hatred.

No oth­er details were imme­di­ate­ly avail­able.

On May 18, law enforce­ment offi­cers raid­ed the news­room of ТУТ.бай and the homes of many of its staff in the frame­work of what was described as a tax eva­sion inquiry. Fif­teen peo­ple, includ­ing CEO Liud­mi­la Ček­ina, Edi­tor in Chief Mary­na Zolata­va and promi­nent jour­nal­ists Aliena Talk­a­čo­va and Voĺha Loj­ka, were arrest­ed. Juli­ja Čar­ni­aŭska­ja, the ail­ing wid­ow of ТУТ.бай founder Juryj Zisi­er, was placed under house arrest.

Access to the web­site has since been blocked. The news outlet’s con­tent was des­ig­nat­ed extrem­ist by a judge this past August.