Freedom Now welcomes the release of journalist Igor Losik from wrongful detention in Belarus. Losik had been imprisoned for more than five years for reporting on anti-government protests.
Prior to his arrest, Losik worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and ran a Telegram news channel. On June 25, 2020, he was arrested and charged with “violating public order,” for using the Telegram channel to allegedly create public disturbances ahead of the 2020 election. On December 14, 2021, after five months of a closed trial, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During his detention, Losik was held incommunicado and was reportedly pressured, under threat of physical violence to him and family, to confess to the charges. His wife Darya was arrested in January 2023 and sentenced to two years in prison for campaigning for his release. She was released in June 2024 as part of a mass amnesty. In July 2025, his younger brother fled Belarus after being sentenced to three years in prison for photographing Russian military equipment.
In January 2023, Freedom Now and Dechert LLP filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Losik’s behalf. In August 2023, the Working Group found that his imprisonment violated international law.
Losik was released as part of a mass amnesty of 52 political prisoners who were subsequently relocated to Lithuania. However, more than 1,200 political prisoners remain imprisoned in Belarus. Among those still wrongfully detained is Dzyanis Ivashyn, a journalist, economist, and political scientist who was arrested in March 2021 and is serving a 13-year prison sentence for his investigative reporting. Last month, Freedom Now initiated a letter writing campaign to show solidarity for Ivashyn. We renew our call for the release of Ivashyn and all political prisoners in Belarus.