Komsomolskaya Pravda shuts down branch in Belarus

MINSK. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper has closed its branch in Belarus, the editorial board said in a statement on the newspaper website on Tuesday.

"Having analyzed the events of the past year and, especially, the past week, Komsomolskaya Pravda has decided to close its Minsk branch, BelKP-Press. All employees will be either compensated or offered positions with other KP enterprises," the statement said.

The website of the Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus newspaper stopped working early on September 29. Later that day, the Belarusian Information Ministry announced the reason behind its decision to block access to the website.

"The kp.by website carries an article which contains information conducive to forming sources of threats to national security by artificially fueling tensions and confrontation in society, confrontation between society and the authorities," it said.

Meanwhile, Komsomolskaya Pravda Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Sungorkin said the website was blocked after the newspaper published a comment from a classmate of a man who was killed in a shootout with Belarusian State Security Committee officials on September 28. The paper was accused of "whitewashing the criminal."

The detention of Gennady Mozheiko, the journalist with Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus who authored the article, was reported on October 2.

According to the newspaper, Mozheiko was detained but charges had yet to be brought.

The permanent commission for human rights in the information space of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights has called on the Belarusian authorities to release the detained journalist.