Statement: BelaPAN's websites targeted by cyber attacks

BelaPAN’s websites belapan.by and naviny.by have been hit by massive distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since October 3.

The attacks have made the sites impossible to access for long periods.

The attacks were launched after a critical article about last week's "Prayer for Belarus" ceremony was posted on naviny.by. It featured interviews with students sent to the event featuring Alyaksandr Lukashenka. We believe that it is this objective coverage, which was not aimed at pleasing authorities, that angered ideology workers who then ordered our websites hit by the DDoS attacks.

We view the incident as flagrant pressure on an independent media outlet and a violation of the constitutional principles of freedom of speech and freedom of the media. This is happening during a presidential election campaign. Such incidents should be taken into account by observers in their assessment of the conditions in which Belarus' presidential election has taken place.

BelaPAN is an officially registered media outlet. In accordance with the requirements of Belarusian laws our server is located in Belarus, in the data center of state communications monopolist Beltelecom. We demand that the safe maintenance of our sites and protection against any attempts at harming their full-scale operation be provided.