The website of Belarus' leading independent media outlet, TUT.BY, has been blocked by authorities after a series of raids.
Editors of the channel reported on Tuesday that their offices were searched by agents of the Belarusian Financial Investigation Department (DFR).
Marina Zolotova said officials had raided her office, her home, and the homes of journalists.
"The co-founder of TUT.BY Kirill Voloshin announces that the portal's domain has been blocked," the organisation said on social media.
"A criminal case has been initiated against TUT.BY by the DFR," the outlet added. The independent news website remained inaccessible in France on Tuesday afternoon.
Euronews has contacted the DFR for a statement on the reported searches.
According to TUT.BY, the investigative authority confirmed that it was conducting raids at the media outlet over "tax fraud".
Belarus' Ministry of Information has stated that they had restricted access to TUT.BY following an order by the country's general prosecutor.
"The General Prosecutor's Office has established numerous facts of violations of the law ... in terms of posting prohibited information in a number of publications on the TUT.BY website," they said in a statement.
This information was said to include content about the "unregistered" BYSOL foundation, which aims to support victims of repression in the country.
"It is prohibited to disseminate information on Internet resources on behalf of organisations that have not undergone state registration in the prescribed manner," the ministry said.
TUT.BY, which receives up to 20 million unique daily visitors, is the country's main independent media and had extensively covered the demonstrations and the violent crackdown by the authorities.
Several of its reporters have been sentenced to short prison terms for "participating" in the rallies, Belarus said.
In recent months, President Lukashenko has overseen the repression of the country's independent media, as well as foreign reporters.
Source: https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/18/tut-by-independent-belarus-media-website-blocked-after-series-of-raids