Babaryka’s video released after 18 months incommunicado

January 8, Pozirk. Pro-government influencer Raman Pratasievič has posted a video on Telegram featuring jailed banker-turned-politician Viktar Babaryka, who was arrested in 2020 after challenging Alaksandar Łukašenka in the presidential race.

Babaryka was allowed to address his family after being held incommunicado for 18 months.

The politician was “in good spirits and has not lost his eloquence skills,” Pratasievič claimed. The circumstances and conditions of their meeting, which took place two weeks ahead of the seventh presidential election in Belarus, remain unknown.

Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has welcomed the news from the imprisoned politician as a step toward ending terror in the country, but expressed concern that authorities use jailed leaders for “manipulations.”

Babaryka, who turned 60 in November, is serving a 14-year prison term in a case widely seen as politically motivated because he was arrested as his presidential campaign was gaining momentum.

In April 2023, he was reportedly admitted to hospital with signs of beating and pneumothorax.

Also read: Belarus’ political prisoners face torture, lack of medical care, isolation – report