October 28, Pozirk. The Tuzin Hitoŭ digital music and culture service has been blocked by order of the Belarusian Ministry of Information, the project’s exiled founder Siarhiej Budkin said on Facebook.
The service has a 21-year history, and its “valuable archive” for 2003–2020 is safe, Budkin said.
He said that authorities blocked individual pages, including those dedicated to Belarusian writers executed during the Soviet era and popular Belarusian songs.
“Attempts to stop Tuzin’s operation have been made before. Nine years ago, I received a warning signed by then-information minister Lilija Ananič that access to the site could be restricted ‘for spreading false information that could harm state or public interests,'” he noted.
Now, officials did not even bother to issue a warning and ordered the web hosting provider to block access to the pages immediately, he said.
Since October 2020, Budkin has headed the Belarusian Council of Culture, which supports cultural figures.
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