Photos of jailed Belarusian opposition leader appear after almost 2 years of no news
Photos and a video of Viktar Babaryka were published by blogger Raman Pratasevich on Jan. 8 after the jailed Belarusian opposition leader was held incommunicado since February 2023.
The footage was released weeks after Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 20 political prisoners in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of the presidential election on Jan. 26.
Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994, cementing his power through widespread repressions, secret police, and electoral fraud. The dictator claimed victory in the last 2020 election after rigging the vote and violently suppressing the subsequent protests and is expected to secure his seventh term later this month.
Photos of Babaryka and an excerpt from his video appeal to relatives have been published on the Telegram channel of Pratasevich, formerly a dissident and editor-in-chief of the opposition news channel Nexta who became a regime apologist after his arrest in 2021 and subsequent pardon.
The pictures show the opposition leader dressed in black clothes, with a yellow sign designating him as "prone to extremist activities," writing something on paper. According to the Viasna human rights group, Babaryka has not been seen since Feb. 5, 2023.
Pratasevich said he had passed letters between Babaryka and his family members.
Babaryka intended to run for the 2020 presidential election but was rejected and, in 2021, sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of bribery and tax evasion broadly seen as politically motivated.
In a similar case last November, photos of imprisoned activist Maria Kalesnikava, who headed Babaryka's electoral campaign and later worked with another oppositionist, Sviatlana Tsikahnouskaya, emerged after more than 600 days of no communication.
Kate Tsurkan
