Belarus government blocks media outlet, detains reporters

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities have blocked the website of a leading online media outlet and detained some of its journalists and several reporters from other news organizations, the latest moves in a sweeping crackdown on dissent and independent media in the ex-Soviet nation. Belarus’ Information Ministry said it blocked Nasha Niva’s website Thursday after the Prosecutor General’s office had accused it of posting unspecified unlawful information. The Belarusian Association of Journalists, BAJ, said that the authorities conducted searches at Nasha Niva’s offices, detained its chief editor Yahor Martsinovich and editor Andrey Skurko and searched their apartments. Nasha Niva extensively covered months of protests against Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.