Jailed editor in chief confident that tut.by will not “disappear”
By Iryna Turčyna, BelaPAN
17 June 2021, 13:57
The jailed editor in chief of tut.by has expressed certainty that the popular news outlet will not “disappear” despite the authorities’ move to block the site and arrest many of its key workers.
In letters from a jail in Minsk, Maryna Zolatava stresses that the media outlet’s team continues working, reaching its large audience through social media.
Ms. Zolatava spent three days in the detention center on Akrescina Street in Minsk following her May 18 arrest. She reportedly slept on a mattress the first night but was forced to sleep on her coat after the mattress was taken away. The first parcel from her family was not delivered to her right away. She received some of the items from the parcel later together with the second parcel.
On May 21, Ms. Zolatava and some of her colleagues were transferred to the pretrial detention center on Valadarskaha Street in Minsk, while some other tut.by workers were moved to the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB).
Ms. Zolatava notes that detainees in the detention center on Valadarskaha Street are treated better than those held in the jail on Akrescina Street.
Ms. Zolatava describes a lack of information and communication with loved ones as the most difficult thing for her while in detention. “My son turned 15 without me, and my daughter went to her prom and will enter university without me,” she writes.
According to Ms. Zolatava, she had expected tut.by to be targeted by the authorities sooner or later but she had not thought that so many people would be arrested at once and that access to the website would be blocked.
“For me, the current situation is a temporary thing,” she writes. “The crackdown makes it even more obvious that the media scene is being totally cleansed. Our news site is an eye sore for the authorities. But the fact that tut.by has been blocked does not mean that everyone will start watching [state television channel] Belarus One. Tut.by has three million users. Three million people have been deprived of their favorite source of information by the authorities.”
She suggests that the public has been angered by the blocking of the website and thanks her workmates for continuing their work through social media.
“I continue to believe that justice will prevail sooner or later but the crackdown will affect many more people,” Ms. Zolatava predicts.
On May 18, law enforcement officers raided the offices of tut.by and other companies controlled by Tut By Media LLC, as well as the homes of some of their workers. Fifteen people were arrested.
The State Control Committee announced on May 18 that criminal proceedings have been instituted against Tut By Media LLC senior executives under Part Two of the Criminal Code’s Article 243, which penalizes felony tax evasion.
On the same day, the information ministry blocked access to the tut.by website at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
All those arrested in the case have been declared political prisoners by Belarusian human rights groups. They are Tut By Media LLC Director General Liudmila Čekina, Deputy Director General Aliaksandr Dajneka, Deputy Director General Iryna Rybalka, Editor in Chief Maryna Zolatava, editor Voĺha Lojka, journalist Aliena Talkačova, Chief Accountant Anžela Asad, Deputy Chief Accountant Maryja Novik, Chief Engineer Ala Lapatka, manager Andrej Aŭdziejeŭ, Siarhiej Pavališaŭ, director general of Hoster.by (hosting services company linked to Tut By Media LLC), and Darja Danilava, managing director of a startup company called RocketData who was involved in a tut.by project – who are all held in custody – as well as Julija Čarniaŭskaja, the company’s lawyer Kaciaryna Tkačenka, and Iryna Kasciučenka, a former Tut By Media LLC lawyer who now works for a different company, who are under house arrest.
17 June 2021, 13:57
Maryna Zolatava
In letters from a jail in Minsk, Maryna Zolatava stresses that the media outlet’s team continues working, reaching its large audience through social media.
Ms. Zolatava spent three days in the detention center on Akrescina Street in Minsk following her May 18 arrest. She reportedly slept on a mattress the first night but was forced to sleep on her coat after the mattress was taken away. The first parcel from her family was not delivered to her right away. She received some of the items from the parcel later together with the second parcel.
On May 21, Ms. Zolatava and some of her colleagues were transferred to the pretrial detention center on Valadarskaha Street in Minsk, while some other tut.by workers were moved to the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB).
Ms. Zolatava notes that detainees in the detention center on Valadarskaha Street are treated better than those held in the jail on Akrescina Street.
Ms. Zolatava describes a lack of information and communication with loved ones as the most difficult thing for her while in detention. “My son turned 15 without me, and my daughter went to her prom and will enter university without me,” she writes.
According to Ms. Zolatava, she had expected tut.by to be targeted by the authorities sooner or later but she had not thought that so many people would be arrested at once and that access to the website would be blocked.
“For me, the current situation is a temporary thing,” she writes. “The crackdown makes it even more obvious that the media scene is being totally cleansed. Our news site is an eye sore for the authorities. But the fact that tut.by has been blocked does not mean that everyone will start watching [state television channel] Belarus One. Tut.by has three million users. Three million people have been deprived of their favorite source of information by the authorities.”
She suggests that the public has been angered by the blocking of the website and thanks her workmates for continuing their work through social media.
“I continue to believe that justice will prevail sooner or later but the crackdown will affect many more people,” Ms. Zolatava predicts.
On May 18, law enforcement officers raided the offices of tut.by and other companies controlled by Tut By Media LLC, as well as the homes of some of their workers. Fifteen people were arrested.
The State Control Committee announced on May 18 that criminal proceedings have been instituted against Tut By Media LLC senior executives under Part Two of the Criminal Code’s Article 243, which penalizes felony tax evasion.
On the same day, the information ministry blocked access to the tut.by website at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
All those arrested in the case have been declared political prisoners by Belarusian human rights groups. They are Tut By Media LLC Director General Liudmila Čekina, Deputy Director General Aliaksandr Dajneka, Deputy Director General Iryna Rybalka, Editor in Chief Maryna Zolatava, editor Voĺha Lojka, journalist Aliena Talkačova, Chief Accountant Anžela Asad, Deputy Chief Accountant Maryja Novik, Chief Engineer Ala Lapatka, manager Andrej Aŭdziejeŭ, Siarhiej Pavališaŭ, director general of Hoster.by (hosting services company linked to Tut By Media LLC), and Darja Danilava, managing director of a startup company called RocketData who was involved in a tut.by project – who are all held in custody – as well as Julija Čarniaŭskaja, the company’s lawyer Kaciaryna Tkačenka, and Iryna Kasciučenka, a former Tut By Media LLC lawyer who now works for a different company, who are under house arrest.
