The Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) rights group has cited several sources as saying that jailed RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik has been taken to a prison medical facility after being found with "cuts to his hands and neck."
The human rights group said on March 20 that Losik was "rescued" after what it characterized as an "attempted suicide," though it was not clear how or to what extent Losik was injured or when the incident occurred. His parents told RFE/RL that, without explanation, they had stopped receiving letters from him more than a month ago.
According to Vyasna, Losik, who on March 21 will have been behind bars for 1,000 days, was in a punitive solitary confinement holding a hunger strike in correctional camp No. 1 in the city of Navapolatsk in the country's northeast when he was found with the wounds.
Losik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2021 on several charges, including "organizing mass riots, incitement to social hatred," and several other charges that remain unclear.
The journalist has maintained his innocence and calls all charges against him politically motivated.
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.
In January, Losik's wife, Darya Losik, was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of facilitating extremist activity. The charge stemmed from her interview to the Poland-based Belsat television channel, which has been officially labeled as an extremist group by Minsk.
The couple's 4-year-old daughter, Paulina, is currently in the custody of Darya Losik's parents.
Ihar Losik's parents told RFE/RL on March 20 that 10 days ago their son's lawyer was not allowed to meet his client in the prison.
The lawyer, whose name has not been made public, said he was told he was not allowed to see Losik on March 10 because his client did not apply in advance for the meeting and was supposedly working in the prison and could not be excused.
Ihar Losik's father, Alyaksandr Losik, told RFE/RL that he was currently discussing the situation with the lawyer, with whom he plans to go to Navapolatsk to try to see his son and find out what really happened to him.
It is unclear if Alyaksandr Losik and the lawyer will be allowed to meet with the imprisoned journalist, who has been recognized as a political prisoner by human rights organizations.
The United States has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ihar and Darya Losik, while RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has also demanded the couple's immediate release and condemned their imprisonment.