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On May 18, 2021, the authorities sealed the office of the largest independent online media in Belarus — TUT.BY, detained everyone who was there and blocked access to the website. 15 people are still under arrest: current and former employees of TUT.BY, and its partners. According to the State Control Committee, a criminal case has been opened against the executives of TUT BY MEDIA LLC. It is Article 243 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus — «taxes and fees evasion at especially large scale». The process of declaring the informational products of the portal as extremist materials has also begun. Most of the editorial staff were forced to leave the country. All this time, the news of the portal is published only in official media accounts on social media and Telegram. Part of the team decided to continue full-fledged work on covering the situation in the country and is launching its own media — Zerkalo.io.

 Alieh Supruniuk, an editor of the news website Pieršy Rehijon, was arrested at his home in Brest late on Tuesday.

Minsk, 3 July. Aliaksandr Ivulin, a sports journalist and soccer player who was handed a 30-day jail sentence in early June, has been declared a suspect in a criminal case, according to media reports.

Index on Censorship and 13 other human rights, freedom of expression, media freedom, and journalists’ organisations unreservedly condemn the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of human rights defender and journalist Andrei Aliaksandrau, who is now facing up to 15 years in prison on baseless charges of “treason to the state”.

DW Akademie is deeply concerned that its long-time trainer, Andrei Aliaksandrau, has been charged with high treason in Belarus and now faces up to 15 years in prison.