Charter 97

This is one of the leading independent media outlets in Belarus. Created by the well-known journalist Oleg Bebenin in 1998, the Charter 97 news website bears the name of a declaration that pro-democracy and human rights groups issued in 1997. It is very critical of President Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime and has always been persecuted. When the harassment stepped up in 2011, the website’s staff moved to neighbouring Poland and have remained there ever since. After being blocked several times, the original website was blocked for good on the information ministry’s orders on 24 January 2018. Because of its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the authorities are now going after its mirror sites.

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