Tut.by, an independent Belarusian news site, has been shut down by the government citing violations of the country's mass media laws, the Information Ministry says.

The site, considered to be the country's most important source of independent news, violated the law by reporting on Bysol, a fund set up to help victims of government repression. Additionally, employees of the company have been charged individually with tax evasion.

Tut.by has been a key source of information in the country for 20 years, wrote the editorial management after the government's move to shut it down. Additionally, it has been a key news source amid protests that started in August after opposition members said President Alexander Lukashenko manipulated the polls to win re-election.

"Media freedom is a necessity," wrote Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a civil rights advocate and former presidential candidate who fled the country after Lukashenko claimed victory. She also spoke of the "murder of mass media" and said those responsible for repression must be hit by sanctions.

Tut.by rose to prominence after the disputed election as ever more international journalists were forced to leave the country and the protests against the election result were met with ever more violence.

The government had already stripped the website of its status as a media organization and had taken action against individual editors.

The news portal reported on Tuesday of searches of its offices and at the residences of multiple journalists. It said computers and mobile phones were confiscated.

Chief editor Marina Solotova was taken away by police and was still unreachable by the afternoon, tut.by reporters wrote in texts on the messaging service Telegram.

Journalists with the group said they would continue trying to do their job via Telegram and other such services.