Journalists involved in BelTA case face formal charges

Eight journalists working with the tut.by and belapan.by news websites have been officially charged with “unauthorized accesses to computer information” in what is known as the “BelTA case”, Belarusian Association of Journalists said.

They are accused of illegally using BelTA's paid newsfeed, which allegedly “entailed significant harm through negligence” and resulted in financial losses ranging from 3 to 14 thousand rubles.

The journalists were offered to cover the damage before the trial, the date for which has not yet been set.

Two more tut.by employees are suspects in the case, while Pailiuk Bykouski of Deutsche Welle and Aliaksei Zhukau, editor of the Belorusy I Rynok online newspaper, are expected to face similar charges in the coming days.

All of them served several days in detention following police raids in the outlets’ offices on August 7.

The journalists received strong domestic and foreign support, including from the EU, Council of Europe and a number of human rights organizations.