{"id":81769,"date":"2024-04-24T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T10:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/81769\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"cpj-slams-domain-name-seizure-from-belarus-independent-media-as-censorship","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/81769\/","title":{"rendered":"CPJ slams domain name seizures as ruthless censorship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (CPJ)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

April 24, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has “strongly condemned” seizures of domain names from independent Belarusian media outlets, urging Minsk to stop using “extremism legislation as a censorship tool to silence independent reporting.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Authorities have used ‘extremism’ legislation to detain, fine, and jail critical journalists and block numerous popular outlets they have labeled as extremist,” it noted<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulnoza Said in charge of CPJ\u2019s Europe and Central Asia programs described the ongoing seizure of domain names in Belarus as “a ruthless form of censorship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After jailing or forcing into exile independent journalists and silencing critical media, Belarusian authorities are trying to stifle the free flow of information on the internet by weaponizing their shameful extremism legislation,” she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since early April, the Operational and Analytical Center (OAC), a Belarusian agency in charge of information security that manages the country-code top-level domain, can confiscate and sell domain names from media branded extremist in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domain name seizures were documented in late 2023 and early 2024 as the OAC seized tut.by and affiliated domain names from the late media tycoon Juryj Zisier\u2019s family and the baj.by domain name from the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BAJ slams domain name seizure as crackdown on independent media<\/h3>\n
April 9, Pozirk. The regulation allowing authorities to confiscate and sell domain names from media branded extremist violates property rights and the right to receive and disseminate information, Barys Harecki, of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has told Pozirk. …<\/div>\n \n