Belarusian authorities blocked the website of the country's oldest news outlet and detained two of its editors Thursday in a major crackdown on independent media.
The Belarus Information Minister said it blocked Nasha Niva's website after the Prosecutor General's Office accused the outlet of posting unlawful information, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities searched Nasha Niva's office, arrested its chief editor, Yahor Martsinovich, and editor Andrey Skurko and searched their apartments, according to The Belarusian Association of Journalists.
"It's a crackdown on the editorial office in the worst Soviet-era tradition," Nasha Niva journalist Аrtsem Harbatsevich told AP in a telephone interview from Minsk.
Harbatsevich likened the incident to actions against Tut.by, another independent news outlet, in May. Authorities also blocked its website and arrested some of its journalists.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Nasha Niva, which was founded in 1906, is the oldest and the most authoritative Belarusian media outlet. Its online audience exceeds 100,000.
Both Nasha Niva and Tut.by extensively covered months of protests against Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, which were triggered by his reelection to a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that was widely seen as rigged.
The authorities responded to demonstrations with a massive crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police. Leading opposition figures have been either jailed or forced to leave the country.
The European Union and the United States have responded to the crackdown by slapping Belarus with sanctions. They have imposed new, tougher restrictions after Belarus diverted a passenger jet on May 23 to arrest an opposition journalist.
The website of Tut.by has been blocked since May and 12 of its journalists have remained in jail pending trial.
Overall, 27 Belarusian journalists are currently in custody, either serving their sentences or awaiting trial, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
"The crackdown on independent media in Belarus is continuing," said the association head, Andrei Bastunets. "The authorities have decided that they can deprive millions of citizens of information. The authorities see journalists and independent information as their main enemies."
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