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May 18 has become a black Tuesday for the Belarusian segment of the Internet. Disturbing news from TUT.BY newsroom has been pouring in since early morning. Detentions, website blocking, a criminal case... TUT.BY office was searched until late at night, and the staff still inside were let go one by one. We will be updating you on the main news on this high-profile case throughout the day.

VIENNA, 17 May 2021 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, deplores the latest imprisonment of several journalists in Belarus.

As TUT.BY learned, recently our colleague Katerina Borisevich was transferred to the women’s colony in Gomel. Katerina was sentenced to six months of imprisonment in the so-called “0 ‰ of alcohol” case. The term of imprisonment expires on 19 May, that is, in two days she must be released.

Lukashenko‘s regime is intensifying its crackdown on Belarusian journalists and citizens. In the last few days, the police have made several administrative arrests, bringing the number of journalists deprived of their freedom to 16.

On 14 May, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Minsk begins to consider the “case of students” who were detained last November and accused of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order. There are 12 accused in total: ten students from different Minsk universities, a medical graduate and a teacher at BSUIR. For more than six months they have been in jail. By the beginning of the first session, more than a hundred people had come to the courthouse, but only some of them managed to get inside. Journalists of independent media and even some relatives of the accused had to wait outside. Police asked the crowd to disperse, after which the arrests took place.