Belarus political prisoners face abuse, no medical care and isolation, former inmate says

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A human rights activist imprisoned for three years in Belarus accused authorities of holding political prisoners in conditions amounting to “torture.” Leanid Sudalenka told The Associated Press that he nearly died from COVID-19 and a lack of medical care. He was also kept in isolation and was regularly denied contact with relatives. Belarus has about 1,500 political prisoners, including 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. Some of them have died in custody and others simply vanish into the system, without any communication for years. Belarus has cracked down on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko ever since the August 2020 election that gave him a sixth term in office in balloting that was widely viewed as fraudulent.