Charter97.org blocked in Belarus

• 23.01.2015, 12:02

The blockage of the website Charter’97 has been continuing since 19 December 2014 with varying intensity.

The website charter97.org has been blocked illegally without giving any reasons for all Belarusian internet users since 19 December 2014. We receive thousands of letters from readers who report that the site is not available in different towns across Belarus.

The authorities block both the IP address and the domain name. Filters are installed on gateways of three owners of access to the international network – Beltelecom, the National Traffic Exchange Centre and BASNET, the network of the National Academy of Science.

Charter97.org can be available for Belarusian users from time to time. It happens not because the authorities stop blocking, but because our technical support manages to minimise effects of blocking. Most users already learnt how to bypass blocking.

The authorities received “legal grounds” to block websites in Belarus on January 1, 2015, when the new law on the mass media took force. Access to certain websites has been restricted for users in state-owned organisations, educational and cultural institutions since 2010. Charter97.org, Belorusski Partizan, the website of Viasna human rights centre, popular site for currency exchange prokopovi.ch and Lipkovich’s blog were blocked for such users in spring 2011.

Read here how to get access to charter97.org