The last letter from imprisoned Belarusian journalist Ihar Losik, a media consultant for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, got to his parents on February 20, 2023. Losik’s four lawyers have either been driven out of Belarus or deprived of their licenses to practice law. No one knows for certain under what conditions the 32-year-old is being held.
Ihar and Darya Losik in an undated photo
“Ihar told me that he had been forced to buy rags and detergent to clean his cell,” said a former prisoner at the notorious Correctional Colony No. 1 in the northern city of Navapolatsk who crossed paths with Losik at the beginning of this year and who asked not to be identified. “The prisoners have to pay for them with their own money. The authorities intentionally created a situation in which Ihar did not have toilet paper. He mostly sits in his cell alone and is often not given the chance to buy even the most basic necessities. It is simply a mockery.”
On the morning of June 25, 2020, four years ago, a group of security officers broke into Losik’s apartment in the western city of Baranavichi. Computers, telephones, and other possessions were confiscated, and Losik was taken away in a gray Mercedes bus. He and his family, suspecting arrest was looming, had already purchased tickets to fly to Georgia on July 1, the first day that flights were resumed following pandemic-related restrictions.
After being held in pretrial detention for six months, Losik was convicted -- in a closed-door trial held at a remand prison -- of “organizing and participating in mass disorder.” Judge Mikalay Dolya sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Losik, his employer, and his relatives reject the accusations against him, dismissing them as politically motivated retribution for his work as a journalist.
The Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
In January 2023, his wife, Darya Losik, was sentenced to two years in prison for purportedly “facilitating extremist activity” by giving an interview about her husband to the Poland-based Belsat TV. According to the indictment, she “positioned herself as the wife of a political prisoner.”
The couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Paulina, is in the care of Darya Losik’s parents.
'You Just Dry Up'
At Correctional Colony No. 1, Losik is confined in a section that includes 14 cells, according to former prisoners who have seen him as recently as late April. Activists estimate that about 150 people recognized as political prisoners by the rights group Vyasna are being held there -- almost all in connection with the nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted following the August 2020 election in which Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed a sixth term amid allegations of massive fraud in his favor.
Banker and philanthropist Viktar Babaryka, who sought to run against Lukashenka in the election but was arrested before the vote, is kept isolated there in cell No. 5, former prisoners say. Losik is normally kept alone in cell No. 4, which is designed to hold nine prisoners. Another RFE/RL journalist, Andrey Kuznechyk, is also there, according to ex-prisoners and Vyasna.
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“All the cells are covered in white ceramic tiles,” a former prisoner told RFE/RL. “The ceiling is also white. The cells are always cool in the summer, but during the rest of the year, they are cold. When they let you outside, it is difficult to focus your vision after looking at the white for so long.”
Some of the cells have electric sockets that work a few hours a day, enabling prisoners to boil water. Prisoners are usually allowed to spend up to 40 rubles ($12) a month to buy basic necessities from the prison store. They are not allowed parcels from outside.
A few books are available, all in Russian and mostly classics of Russian literature like War And Peace.
Food is basic and minimal.
“The first meal, at 6 a.m., is plain porridge and tea,” a former prisoner said. “Lunch at 11:30 is soup, usually cabbage, or macaroni. Dinner is at 4 p.m. -- usually two cups of liquid puree.”
“You think constantly about food and quickly lose weight,” he added. “Then you just dry up.”
A drawing by Ihar Losik, sent from prison in the summer of 2021
Prisoners are allowed about 15-20 minutes a day to walk in a closed courtyard that is open to the sky. Since prisoners from each cell are taken to the yard together, Losik most likely walks in solitude.
For some time at least, Losik was assigned a job stripping insulation off salvaged wire. This is tedious and often painful work that is frequently given to dissident prisoners.
A demonstration in support of Ihar Losik in Kyiv in January 2021
“When I was transferred to wire work in the metal shop, things got harsh,” recalled human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka, who was imprisoned from 2021 until July 2023 and who now lives in exile. “We were given pliers, a hammer, and a knife. No gloves were provided, so my hands were often cut and dirty…. We worked without pay, earning only a ruble or two per month.”
Another former dissident prisoner who was released in May said Losik was “very upset” about his wife’s prosecution and the fate of their young daughter.
“Some prisoners saw him in the corridor in late April,” the man said. “I know that police came to Ihar and pushed him to record a confession. But he refused.”