MINSK -- A court in Minsk has designated company Tut.by Media as “extremist” and banned its operations in Belarus as a crackdown on independent media and journalists continues.
The Supreme Court of Belarus said on June 14 that the decision made by the Economic Court of Minsk takes effect immediately. It did not outline the reasons for the court's decision.
Last August, the news outlet tut.by and the media site zerkalo.io -- both owned by the parent company Tut.by Media -- were blocked by Belarusian authorities, who also froze the company’s bank accounts and detained a number of staff for alleged tax evasion.
Tut.by was one of the most prominent websites covering a crackdown on protests after a disputed presidential election in August 2020 gave authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office despite widespread allegations of fraud.
Belarusian authorities have shuttered several media outlets, including the Polish-funded Belsat television channel, the popular Nasha Niva newspaper, the Minsk office of RFE/RL, and dozens of regional publications for their independent coverage of Lukashenka's regime.
