The UN Demands Immediate Release Of Ihar Losik

• 11.10.2023, 11:10

The political prisoner attempted suicide in the colony.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has recognised that the Belarusian authorities have violated international human rights law by keeping journalist Ihar Losik behind bars, Radio Svaboda reports.

Responding to a legal petition filed by the human rights organisation Freedom Now and the international law firm Dechert LLP, the UN concluded that "Losik's arrest and detention are based solely on his journalistic activities and his exercise of freedom of expression and association".

Human rights activists welcomed the UN Working Group's decision and urged the Belarusian authorities to release the journalist immediately.

Ihar Losik, a blogger and media consultant for Radio Svaboda, was arrested in June 2020. In December 2021, he was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security colony in the Tsikhanouski case.

Two years later, his wife, Daria Losik, was also imprisoned for giving an interview to an "extremist" publication. She was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for "promoting extremist activities". The couple's young daughter is being raised by her grandparents.

This March, Ihar Losik cut his arm and neck in protest at the threat of being sent to the isolation cell of the Navapolatsk colony. The prison administration said the wounds were insignificant.