The verdict and sentences in the closed-door trial of popular Belarusian blogger and RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik and a group of co-defendants are due to be announced on December 14 in the southeastern city of Homel.
Losik, video blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, and several other defendants, including former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, have been on trial since June inside a detention center in Homel.
Losik was detained on June 25, 2020, and accused of using his popular Telegram channel to “prepare to disrupt public order” in the run-up to the August 2020 presidential election that extended the rule of longtime strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Protests erupted in Belarus after Lukashenka, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of the election, which opponents and the West say was rigged.
The West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus. Tens of thousands of people were detained and human rights activists say more than 800 people are now in jail as political prisoners.
Crisis In Belarus
Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka ramps up pressure on NGOs and independent media as part of a brutal crackdown against protesters and the opposition following an August 2020 election widely considered fraudulent.
Independent media and opposition social-media channels have been targeted as well.
The other opposition figures and political prisoners on trial include opposition activists Uladzimer Tsyhanovich, Artsyom Sakau, and Dzmitry Papou.
The defendants are accused of organizing mass disorder, inciting social hatred, impeding the activities of the Central Election Commission, and organizing activities that disrupt social order.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has called the 173-day-long trial “a travesty of justice” and called on the Lukashenka regime to cease its attacks on the media and release the defendants.
“The Lukashenka regime’s treatment of Ihar Losik has been reprehensible. The closed-door trial he and his co-defendants have endured for the past five months has been an outrageous travesty of justice. We again call on the Lukashenka regime to stop their assault on news organizations and journalists and bloggers like Ihar and let him return to his wife and daughter.”
The verdict is due to be announced at 1100 GMT/UTC in a detention center in Homel.
