Information ministry restores access to Intex Press website

February 9, BPN. The Belarusian information ministry unblocked access to the website of Intex Press, an independent media outlet based in Baranavičy, Brest region, on February 6.

The media outlet is not in violation of current laws, Information Minister Uładzimir Piarcoŭ said in a letter that the editorial team has received on February 9.

Authorities restricted access to the website in late December 2022 over allegations that it shared prohibited opposition content.

Intex Press came under fire in April 2021 after it ran an interview with Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja. Later, authorities blacklisted that interview as extremist content.

Since May 2022, Intex Press has not come out in print because authorities prohibited the country’s printing houses from dealing with the newspaper. The periodical was distributed only in electronic form.

In late June 2022, authorities stripped Intex Press of registration and imposed a large fine on its editor in chief Uładzimir Janukievič and the Intex Press publishing house.

A couple of weeks later, a court in Brest sentenced Intex Press reporter Juryj Hancarevič to two and a half years in prison for reportedly sharing a picture of Russian military aircraft with an opposition media outlet.

In 2022, the information ministry unblocked access to blizko.by after it had removed all political content, as well as the websites of Belorusy i Rynok and Narodnaja Vola.