At the same time, the Investigative Committee has dropped the charge of unauthorized access to computer information against the editor, explaining that she did not commit this offense.
Ms. Zolatava was questioned in the Minsk office of the Investigative Committee for three hours on Thursday. The interrogation was filmed.
According to the Investigative Committee, Ms. Zolatava failed to secure tut.by’s subscription to the government’s news agency BelTA’s news products and did not prevent tut.by employees’ unauthorized access to BelTA’s paid-subscriber section.
Ms. Zolatava is the only suspect in the case to be charged under Article 425, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. All other journalists accused in the case have been charged with unauthorized access to computer information, which may land them in prison for up to two years.
Meanwhile, a report on tut.by said on Thursday that Ms. Zolatava had been “offered” to compensate BelTA and the government-controlled Belarus Segodnya (Belarus Today) media group for “damage caused by unidentified people.” In particular, she is to pay 10,908 rubels ($5,200) to the news agency and 2,683 rubels ($1,280) to the media group.
In addition, the damage allegedly caused by tut.by to BelTA and Belarus Segodnya has been estimated by the Investigative Committee at 52,320 rubels ($24,900) and 18,173 rubels ($8,650), respectively.
The BelTA case was opened after the news agency had complained about the use of its paid information products by unauthorized people.
A total of 18 journalists were arrested in the BelTA case between August 7 and August 9. Ten of them were released after questioning and eight were placed in custody.
Officers of the Investigative Committee conducted searches at the offices of BelaPAN, tut.by and some other media organizations.
BelaPAN staff writer Tanya Korovenkova and tut.by journalists Maryna Zolatava, Hanna Kaltyhina, Hanna Yermachonak and Halina Ulasik spent two days in jail and were released on the evening and night of August 9.
Alyaksey Zhukaw, an editor with the online newspaper Belorusy i Rynok who was arrested on August 8, was also released on August 9.
Mr. Bykowski was arrested on August 8 and was released on August 10 following his interrogation at the Minsk office of the Investigative Committee.
BelaPAN chief editor Iryna Lewshyna, who was arrested on the morning of August 9, was released the following day.
Fourteen journalists have since been charged with getting unauthorized access to computer information.
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