Ihar Losik

administrator of the Telegram channel "Belarus Golovnogo Mozga"

Date of birth: 20 May 1992

Date of detention: 25 June 2020

Charges indicted:

Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Organization of riots
Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred

Sentence: 15 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony

Prison sentence start date: 20 June 2022

Judge: Mikalai Dolia

Prosecutor: Dzianis Mikushau

Prison: Penal colony No. 1

Godparent: Robin Wagener, member of the German Bundestag; earlier: Manuel Sarrazin, member of the German Bundestag

On the list of “terrorists” (money transfers are prohibited)
Ihar Losik

Ihar Losik is the administrator of the Belarus Golovnogo Mozga Telegram channel, with more than 172 thousand subscribers.

He is from Baranavičy, Brest Region. He graduated from the Baranavičy State University as a teacher of foreign languages but did not work in his specialty. The blogger is married to Darya Losik; they have a little daughter.

On June 25, 2020, the house in Baranavičy, where Ihar Losik and his family live, was searched, and the vlogger was arrested. In the evening, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against Ihar Losik under Article 342 of the Criminal Code. After being detained in a temporary detention facility in Minsk, Ihar Losik was transferred to remand prison #1.

On December 15, Ihar Losik went on a hunger strike to protest against the new charges of “plotting riots” (Article 13 and Part 2 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code). Darya Losik also went on a hunger strike in solidarity with her husband.

On December 14, 2021, Ihar Losik was charged under Part 1 of Article 293 ('Organization of mass riots') and Article 130 ('Incitement to social hatred') of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony.

In April 2022, Ihar Losik saw his daughter for the first time in 22 months.

On May 31, 2022, the Supreme Court began considering the appeals of the six defendants in the Tsikhanouski case behind closed doors. The next day, the court ruled to uphold the sentences.

In June 2022, Ihar Losik was transferred from remand prison #3 in Homieĺ to penal colony #1 in Navapolack.

On June 28, 2022, the KGB added the political prisoner to the 'List of persons involved in terrorist activities'.

In July 2022, the  family's property (including a piano, household appliances, and furniture) was seized. To redeem his property taken by the state, Ihar Losik has to obtain permission. The Compulsory Execution Department of Brest provided neither a positive nor a negative answer to the political prisoner's request. Therefore his property is to be offered for sale at an auction.

On October 18, 2022, his wife, Darya Losik, was arrested.

On November 4, 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs included the political prisoner in the 'List of persons involved in extremist activities'.

According to human rights defenders, the defendants in the Tsikhanouski case will have to pay 22 million Belarusian rubles (approx. $7,385,028) in compensation—as indicated in the court decision, "to pay employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the additional time on duty during the post-election protests".

In January 2023, Ihar Losik's wife, Darya Losik, was sentenced to two years in prison. After that, the political prisoner was allowed to correspond with her. Whether Darya Losik was allowed to communicate with her husband is still unknown.

According to the available information, on March 15, 2023, Ihar Losik allegedly refused to "clean up the premises". The penal colony administration threatened him with a punishment cell. In response, the political prisoner defiantly cut his arm and neck with a blade in the presence of other convicts. As far as we know, there is no threat to Ihar Losik's life.

In April 2023, Ihar Losik was again placed in a punishment cell.

The political prisoner was probably placed in a tighter security cell.

 

Mail address: Penal colony No. 1. 211440, Navapolack, vulica Techničnaya 8

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