Six of those detained were released after questioning, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said.

The Investigative Committee accused those detained of gaining illegal access to a Belarusian Telegraph Agency website that is available only to paying subscribers “more than 15,000 times over a two-year period.”

The criminal offense in question is punishable by a fine, a ban from certain professions, arrest, or up to two years of house arrest or prison time.

Tut.by and the Belarusian Private News Agency, known as BelaPAN, deny the accusations.

The raids drew protests from the Council of Europe, an organization that focuses on human rights and that includes nearly every country on the Continent but not Belarus. A press officer for the secretary general called on Minsk to “liberate all the arrested journalists” and to respect freedom of the press.

Reporters Without Borders, which considers Belarus one of the world’s 25 least hospitable countries for journalists, also condemned the actions of the authorities. Johann Bihr, who leads the organization’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, criticized Minsk’s “attempts to intimidate leading independent media outlets at a time of growing harassment of critical journalists.”