Detained wife of RFE/RL consultant in Belarus

Darya Losik | Photo Credits: VOA

The wife of jailed RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik has been detained after police searched her apartment in the western city of Baranavichy.

Darya Losik's parents told RFE/RL that police searched their daughter's home early in the morning on October 18, waking her and her 4-year-old daughter, Paulina.

According to her parents, Darya Losik was then told she was to be detained for 72 hours until her pretrial restrictions were decided on an "unspecified criminal case."

Police then took her to the regional capital, Brest, her parents said, adding that their granddaughter is currently staying with them.

Meanwhile, the BGM Telegram channel, founded by Darya Losik's husband, cited several other Telegram channels close to the government as reporting on October 18 that Darya Losik faces a charge over an interview with the Poland-based Belsat, which Belarusian authorities shut down and labeled extremist in July last year.

The United States has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Darya Losik, a State Department spokesman said at a briefing.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has also demanded Darya Losik's immediate release and condemned her detainment.

"Darya Losik is guilty of nothing more than advocating for her wrongly imprisoned husband, Ihar Losik. She must be released immediately to care for her daughter, Paulina. The Losik family has endured enough," he said.

Ihar Losik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December last year on charges that remain unclear.

The husband of exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, as well as four other bloggers and opposition politicians and activists, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms along with Losik at the time.

Losik and other defendants have insisted the case against them is politically motivated.

Source: VOA