Darya Losik reportedly arrested in Minsk Updated

Darya Losik, the wife of political prisoner blogger Ihar Losik who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in the Tsikhanouskі case, has been arrested, reports the Telegram channel @motolkohelp. 

Pro-government media reported today that Darya had facilitated extremist activities, in particular by giving an interview to Belsat TV deemed extremist by Belarusian authorities.

As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty learned, the police searched Losik’s apartment today in the early morning while she and her daughter were still sleeping.

Losik was allowed to call her parents. Her mother quickly arrived at the scene, but the police did not let her into the apartment. She was later given a document that a search had been conducted. There were no other witnesses of the search except Darya Losik herself and her minor daughter.

Ihar Losik's wife is detained for three days as part of a criminal case, no further details known to the human rights defenders. Their daughter is now with the grandparents, Darya's parents.

Ihar Losik administered the Telegram channel "Belarus Golovnogo Mozga", with more than 172 thousand subscribers. On December 14, 2021, Ihar Losik was charged under Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (organization of mass riots) and Part 3 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement to social hatred). He was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security prison.

UPDATE: The "repentance video" of Darya Losik was published by pro-government media. In this video, she says that she was detained for giving an interview to the "extremist" TV channel Belsat on April 17, 2022. According to the security forces, Losik was detained for "facilitating extremist activities" (Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code).