The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found Belarus violated international human rights law by imprisoning Ihar Losik, concluding that the arrest and detention of the RFE/RL journalist were "based solely on his journalistic activity and his exercise of the freedoms of expression and of association.”
The U.S.-based rights group Freedom Now revealed the move by the UN group, saying on October 10 that the conclusion was made in response to a legal petition it filed along with the international law firm Dechert LLP.
Freedom Now Legal Officer Adam Lhedmat welcomed the UN's conclusion, calling Losik's detention "wrongful" and "indicative" of the authoritarian ruler of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka's "continued assault on the freedom of press in Belarus."
"Unfortunately, [Ihar] is just one of many journalists imprisoned in a country which has repeatedly used the judicial system to punish dissent. We call on the government to abide by the Working Group’s decision and release him immediately,” Lhedmat said.
Losik was arrested in June 2020 and 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.
SEE ALSO: 'Robbed Of Childhood': The Children Of Belarus's Political Prisoners Left Behind In Lukashenka's CrackdownThe 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 2023, Losik's wife, Darya, was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of facilitating extremist activity. The charge stemmed from her interview with the Poland-based Belsat television channel that 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.
The U.S. State Department, U.S. Helsinki Commission, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, among others, have called for Losik’s immediate release.