Opposition leader concerned about prisoners held incommunicado

February 12, Pozirk. Alaksanadr Łukašenka and his officials keep political prisoners incommunicado to make people forget about them, Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said on Telegram.

Prominent opposition politicians and activists remain cut off from the world for months, among them Cichanoŭskaja’s husband Siarhiej Cichanoŭski (341 days incommunicado), former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka (292), his campaign manager Maryja Kaleśnikava (363), lawyer Maksim Znak (369), blogger Ihar Łosik (358) and politician Mikałaj Statkievič (369).

Many others may face the same ordeal, but people just do not know about their suffering, the Belarusian opposition leader noted. Politicians, media outlets and activists seek to restore communication with people behind bars, she stressed, urging Belarusians to support political prisoners and their families.

Authorities want to break political prisoners’ will by torturing them with a ban on correspondence and communication with the outside world, the Viasna Human Rights Center noted.

Human Rights Watch recently recorded a growing number of reports of incommunicado detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment in Belarus.