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ARTICLE 19 is appalled by the latest crackdown on TUT.BY, one of the most popular internet news outlets in Belarus. On 18 May 2021, access to the website was blocked, including via VPN. Law enforcement agents searched TUT.BY’s offices of the outlet and a criminal case has been opened against it for “tax evasion”. Additionally, a number of people related to the outlet have been detained. 

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.

TUT.BY journalist Lyubov Kasperovich is being examined in the Moskovsky District Court. She is accused of participating in an unsanctioned mass event. Judge Sergei Katser found the journalist guilty and sentenced her to 15 days of arrest.

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.