INDEX ON CENSORSHIP | VOL.50 | NO.2

The Index

World In Focus: Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on peaceful protest and the media has continued, the most notable of which was the forced grounding of a plane carrying journalist and activist Roman Protasevich. But incidents have happened elsewhere in the country too.

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1 Minsk Belarus’s Ministry of Information has blocked access to probono.by, a human rights support website set up in August 2020 after the disupted re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The site aims to help those affected by the subsequent protests and Lukashenko’s crackdown by connecting victims to lawyers and helping with the searches for loved ones who have been arrested. It includes information on lawyers and gives medical and mental health advice.

Probono.by was hosted on servers in Belarus but it has now been moved to allow access via VPN or from abroad.

2 Brest/Hrodna Tut.by, one of the country’s most popular news sites, was shut down in May, denying access to those within Belarus and outside. Its offices in Brest and Hrodna as well as in the capital were raided, along with the home of editor Marina Zolotova on 18 May.

Several of Tut.by’s journalists had already been targeted, including Katerina Borisevich, who was given a six-month sentence on 2 March although she was released on 19 May. Her colleague Lyubov Kasperovich was arrested on 17 May.

The government’s Financial Investigations Department claimed the raids were based on “suspected tax evasion”.

3 Mahilyow (Mogilev) Deutsche Welle journalist Alyksandr Burakou and 6tv.by reporter Uladzimir Laptsevich were covering a trial of political prisoners when arrested on 12 May.

They were made to strip naked after their arrests outside court. Burakou claimed he was subjected to regular cell searches, being forced to stay awake for several nights during detention. Both journalists went on hunger strike in protest at their treatment.

There have been well over 100 noted cases of torture by Lukashenko’s authorities since protests erupted after the presidential election in August 2020. Many of the cases are said to be journalists.

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