""We are immensely grateful to President [Donald] Trump for securing the release of yet another brave RFE/RL journalist unfairly detained by Belarusian authorities," RFE/RL President and CEO Steve Capus said in a statement from Vilnius."
""Ihar suffered horribly because he was a journalist working for RFE/RL. This phase of his excruciating and wholly unfair ordeal, which stretched beyond five years, is finally over," Capus added."
""organizing mass riots, taking part in mass disorder, inciting social hatred,""
Ihar Losik, an RFE/RL journalist, was freed after more than five years in Belarusian detention and arrived in Lithuania on September 11 along with 51 others. Gratitude was expressed to President Donald Trump and support credited to US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Special Envoy John Coale, the Lithuanian government, and the press freedom community. Losik was sentenced in December 2021 to 15 years on charges of "organizing mass riots, taking part in mass disorder, inciting social hatred," and other accusations widely described as politically motivated. Losik was tried with blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, who had been released earlier along with other prisoners. Losik's release followed a recent direct phone call between Trump and Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Read at RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
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