Belarus closes journalist organization, continuing crackdown

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus has ordered the closure of the country’s largest independent journalists’ organization. It’s the latest move by authorities to suppress critical reporting in a yearlong crackdown on dissent. Friday’s order by the supreme court to liquidate the Belarusian Association of Journalists follows the jailing of some 30 journalists, raids on newspaper offices, blocking the websites of major independent media, and closing a writers’ organization that was headed by Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexieveich. Belarus also cancelled accreditation for foreign news organizations after massive protests began in August 2020 following disputed presidential elections that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.