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Editor of Influential Belarusian News Site Arrested Amid Press Crackdown

Aliaksei Shota’s detention comes after 15 employees at the country’s most popular media site were arrested earlier this month.

The editor of an influential Belarusian news site has been arrested amid the Lukashenko regime’s crackdown on journalists. Local police say they are investigating Aliaksei Shota, the editor of Hrodna.life, for suspicion of extremism. The site, police say, “posted information products that were duly recognized as extremist." According to Hrodna.life, Shota was held by police for three hours, and a number of computer hard drives were confiscated by police from his house. His detention comes after police shut down the popular Belarusian news site tut.by, which Shota had collaborated with in the past, and arrested 15 of its employees earlier this month. Last week, Belarusian authorities drew international outcry for grounding a Ryanair flight in order to arrest dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich. While no charges have been announced against Shota, Pratasevich faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted on the current charge of organizing riots.