Authorities in Minsk have conducted a search of offices belonging to independent television channel Belsat TV, seizing computers in what the channel has described as a “repressive measure”.
Officers from the Belarus Emergency Situations Ministry blocked journalists from entering the Belsat building as they arrived for work on April 9.
The reason for the raid has not yet been made public, but Belsat believes it is connected to the publication on its website last year of a story about corruption.
According to Belsat, an early draft version of the story was published on the live website by mistake.
“In July 2018, we made an unfortunate error when publishing a text about an alleged corruption case in the Health Ministry (…). We quickly set the record straight and offered our apologies. Investigators ran a check and found no grounds for criminal prosecution. However, in January 2019, the prosecutor’s office launched a criminal case,” said Belsat TV in a statement.
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