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image captionMany of those detained in Minsk last August were brought to the notorious Okrestina detention centre
Belarus s jails and detention centres are holding hundreds of people described as political prisoners, whether they are political opponents, independent journalists or protesters.
Some 7,000 Belarusians were rounded up and thrown into crowded prisons in a matter of days, when they took to the streets in August 2020 to denounce the presidential election as rigged. Reports suggested beatings and torture were rife.
The arrests have continued and jail terms too. That is the situation facing captured blogger Roman Protasevich and his student girlfriend. Mr Protasevich said before he was detained he feared the death penalty, which Belarus still has, because he had seen his name on a terrorism list.
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IFJ 25 May 2021
Belarus: an act of state terrorism to arrest a journalist
On 23 May, the Belarusian authorities forced a civilian plane to perform an emergency landing in Minsk, Belarus capital and arrested Belarussian blogger Raman Pratasevich. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) have condemned what they call an act of air piracy and state terrorism . They demand his immediate release and those of 28 journalists and media actors currently detained in Belarus. Screenshot video Raman Pratasevich
Raman Pratasevich, 26, is a blogger and former editor of the popular opposition Telegram channel NEXTA and editor-in-chief of Belarus of the Brain, another Telegram channel. Both have covered protests against Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko s disputed election in August 2020. Pratasevich had fled Belarus in 2019, fearing prosecution and currently lives in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Hijack, arrest, torture: Belarusian journalists under attack
The grounding of a Ryanair flight on a fake bomb threat is just the latest escalation of an independent media clampdown in Belarus
25 May 2021
BY VOLHA SIAKHOVICH
Masked law enforcement officers detain a journalist during a protest by opposition supporters at Komarovsky Market in Minsk. Credit: Natalia Fedosenko/TASS/Alamy Live News
The diversion of a Ryanair plane to Minsk over the weekend on the orders of Belaruisan president Alexander Lukashenko and the subsequent detention of independent journalist Roman Protasevich is the latest incident in a clampdown on independent media in the country.
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The health of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, a frequent critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who was jailed following Sunday s diversion of a plane bound for Lithuania, remains in question with conflicting accounts of the 26-year-old s physical state. According to his mother, Roman Protasevich is in hospital in critical condition - heart disease, Tadeusz Giczan, Protasevich s editor-in-chief, tweeted on Monday.
Later on Monday afternoon, a video appeared on NEXTA, Protasevich s news platform, appearing to show the journalist saying the reports of heart problems were false and he s being treated well in jail while confessing to crimes that carry a 15-year prison sentence.