Authorities strip local news site of URL

April 27, BPN. The Operational and Analytical Center (OAC), Belarus’ agency in charge of Belarus’ information security, has deprived EX-PRESS.BY of its web address without referring the matter to court, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported.

The local news website covering developments in the Minsk region’s Barysaŭ and Žodzina districts has been targeted in the continuing government crackdown on the independent media in the country.

In late February, a district judge blacklisted EX-PRESS.BY as extremist content for the second time after October 2021.

At the hearing, the prosecutor accused the website of inciting hatred and spreading false information about Belarus and discrediting it.

EX-PRESS.BY was set up by journalists from the independent newspaper Kurier iz Borisova outlawed back in 2005.

Authorities blocked access to the website for
Belarus-based readers in August 2022 after it had been branded extremist
content for the first time.