MINSK -- A prosecutor has asked a court in the western Belarusian city of Brest to sentence Darya Losik, the wife of jailed RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik, to two years in prison on a charge of facilitating extremist activity.
The prosecutor's request came on January 18, the trial's first day. The court is expected to move quickly through the case and hand down a verdict and sentence on January 19.
The Prosecutor-General's Office has said the charge against Darya Losik stems from an interview she gave to the Poland-based Belsat television channel that has been officially labeled as an extremist group by Minsk. During the interview she "positioned herself as the wife of a 'political prisoner,'" the office said.
"She expressed her personal negative assessment of state organs involved in criminal prosecution and justice. She also said her husband had not committed any crimes and had been illegally convicted. She called on relatives of other convicts to follow her example," the Prosecutor-General's Office said in the statement.
Darya Losik was detained in October after police searched her home. The four-year daughter of Darya and Ihar Losik, Paulina, is currently with Darya's parents.
WATCH: In October 2020, Darya Losik claimed her husband was being held in "deliberately inhumane conditions" and being pressured to admit to crimes he did not commit.
The United States has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Darya Losik, while RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has also demanded her immediate release and condemned her detainment.
Ihar Losik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2022 on charges that remain unclear.
The husband of exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, as well as four other bloggers and opposition politicians and activists, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms along with Losik at the time.
Losik and other defendants have insisted that the case against them is politically motivated.
