diff --git a/searx/engines/zlibrary.py b/searx/engines/zlibrary.py
index c29c9135c..0eed5f621 100644
--- a/searx/engines/zlibrary.py
+++ b/searx/engines/zlibrary.py
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ from flask_babel import gettext
 from searx.utils import extract_text, eval_xpath, eval_xpath_list
 from searx.enginelib.traits import EngineTraits
 from searx.data import ENGINE_TRAITS
+from searx.exceptions import SearxException
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     import httpx
@@ -108,13 +109,21 @@ def request(query: str, params: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         zlib_year_to=zlib_year_to,
         zlib_ext=zlib_ext,
     )
+    params["verify"] = False
     return params
 
 
+def domain_is_seized(dom):
+    return bool(dom.xpath('//title') and "seized" in dom.xpath('//title')[0].text.lower())
+
+
 def response(resp: httpx.Response) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
     results: List[Dict[str, Any]] = []
     dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)
 
+    if domain_is_seized(dom):
+        raise SearxException(f"zlibrary domain is seized: {base_url}")
+
     for item in dom.xpath('//div[@id="searchResultBox"]//div[contains(@class, "resItemBox")]'):
         results.append(_parse_result(item))
 
@@ -168,22 +177,30 @@ def _parse_result(item) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
 def fetch_traits(engine_traits: EngineTraits) -> None:
     """Fetch languages and other search arguments from zlibrary's search form."""
-    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel, too-many-branches
 
     import babel
     from searx.network import get  # see https://github.com/searxng/searxng/issues/762
     from searx.locales import language_tag
 
+    resp = get(base_url, verify=False)
+    if not resp.ok:  # type: ignore
+        raise RuntimeError("Response from zlibrary's search page is not OK.")
+    dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)  # type: ignore
+
+    if domain_is_seized(dom):
+        print(f"ERROR: zlibrary domain is seized: {base_url}")
+        # don't change anything, re-use the existing values
+        engine_traits.all_locale = ENGINE_TRAITS["z-library"]["all_locale"]
+        engine_traits.custom = ENGINE_TRAITS["z-library"]["custom"]
+        engine_traits.languages = ENGINE_TRAITS["z-library"]["languages"]
+        return
+
     engine_traits.all_locale = ""
     engine_traits.custom["ext"] = []
     engine_traits.custom["year_from"] = []
     engine_traits.custom["year_to"] = []
 
-    resp = get(base_url)
-    if not resp.ok:  # type: ignore
-        raise RuntimeError("Response from zlibrary's search page is not OK.")
-    dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)  # type: ignore
-
     for year in eval_xpath_list(dom, "//div[@id='advSearch-noJS']//select[@id='sf_yearFrom']/option"):
         engine_traits.custom["year_from"].append(year.get("value"))