The Belarusian Investigative Committee might have detained some other journalists in the BelTA case, according to Belarusian media.

"This morning, detectives came to the residence of [...] Alexei Zhukov and his wife Arina Semychkina. The couple was taken away from their home in Borovlyany by Investigative Committee officers," the resource RFRM reported.

According to the resource, its journalist witnessed the detention. Details have not been reported.

Zhukov used to be the head editor of the magazine Belorusskoye Selskoye Khozyaistvo (Belarusian Agriculture) and worked for the outlet Belorusy i Rynok (Belarusians and the Market).

According to the Belarusian bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), "The head editor of the website and three journalists were detained at the Realt.by office as part of the BelTA case" this morning and will be questioned by the Investigative Committee.

Acclaimed Belarusian journalist Pavel Bykovsky said his home was searched this morning.

The offices of Belarus' biggest online news site, tut.by, and the news agency BelaPAN were searched on Tuesday as part of an investigation into unauthorized accessing of computer information.

According to the Investigative Committee, a criminal case on charges of "unauthorized access to computer information for purposes of personal gain, causing substantial damage," was opened after a check conducted by the Interior Ministry.

It uncovered more than 15,000 cases of unauthorized access to BelTA's computers over two years (2017 and 2018), the Investigative Committee said.

The Investigative Committee accused officials of the publisher Belarusskaya Nauka, BelaPAN, and Tut.by Media of being involved in the illegal activity.

The Investigative Committee accused officials of the publisher Belarusskaya Nauka, BelaPAN, and Tut.by Media of being involved in the illegal activity.

Tut.by Editor-in-Chief Marina Zolotova and editors Anna Kaltygina and Ulyana Boboyed, tut.by newswire manager Galina Ulasik, and BelaPAN observer Tatyana Korovenkova were detained for three days, the Belarussian Association of Journalists said.

Tut.by employees Dmitry Bobrik and Anna Yermachonok and BelaPAN editor Andrei Sereda were also detained. They were set free later in the day.

Tut.by founder Yury Zisser said on Tuesday evening that the case is politically motivated.

The Council of Europe urged the Belarusian authorities to release everyone who has been detained in the BelTA case. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, for its part, said that the detention of BelaPAN and tut.by employees "was not political and had nothing to do with freedom of the press or journalistic activity in Belarus."