BREST, Belarus -- Authorities in Belarus have not released the wife of jailed RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik even though the deadline for her preliminary detainment has ended.
Darya Losik's parents told RFE/RL on October 21 that their daughter remains in a detention center in the western city of Brest. They also said they are filing documents for possible guardianship of the Losiks' 4-year-old daughter, Paulina.
Losik was detained early in the morning on October 18 after police searched her home. The detainment was for 72 hours until her pretrial restrictions concerning an unspecified criminal case were decided by a court.
Since there was no decision on the pretrial restrictions, she was legally free to leave in the early hours of October 21. Her further detention at this point is considered illegal.
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, while RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has also demanded Darya Losik's immediate release and condemned her detainment.
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 that the case against them is politically motivated.
