Catholic Among Journalists Jailed Across Russia And Former Soviet Union

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

MINSK/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Journalists imprisoned across Russia, and other former Soviet states may have been encouraged by the faith of a Catholic reporter in Belarus who has appealed to the Vatican for help while marking years behind bars.

Ihar Losik, a Belarusian journalist, Catholic husband and father, recently marked five years in prison after being arrested ahead of Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election.

Losik, a former contributor to U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and its Belarusian service Radio Svoboda, was later sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges including inciting hatred and organizing actions authorities said “violated public order.”

Appearing briefly on Belarusian state television earlier this year, Losik, 33, appeared frail and subdued in what rights groups said was likely a forced interview conducted under prison conditions.

In a 2021 letter to the late Pope Francis, Losik wrote that his Catholic faith had become his only source of strength in prison. “I really want to believe that God has not abandoned us,” he wrote, expressing fear that his young daughter might one day forget him.

CATHOLIC FAITH AND DETENTION

His writings have not remain unnoticed: Recently elected Pope Leo XIV publicly expressed strong support for press freedom, particularly for journalists who are imprisoned or persecuted for their work.

“The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press,” the pope said earlier this year.

Rights advocates say Losik’s case reflects broader pressure on religious believers and independent journalists in Belarus under President Alexander Lukashenko, whose government has jailed thousands of perceived dissidents.

Belarus has tightened restrictions on religious communities, requiring mandatory registration and limiting activities of Catholic and Protestant groups, while favoring the state-aligned Orthodox Church, according to human-rights monitors.

The pattern extends beyond Belarus. In Russia, journalist Nika Novak, a Russian citizen working for RFE/RL’s Russian Service, remains imprisoned after being sentenced to four years for “collaboration with a foreign organization,” a charge widely criticized by press-freedom groups.

In Azerbaijan, RFE/RL journalist Farid Mehralizada was sentenced on June 20 to nine years in prison on what rights groups described as spurious charges. He has been detained since May 2024.

PRESS FREEDOM UNDER PRESSURE

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said Mehralizada “has already lost a great deal,” noting that the journalist missed the birth of his child and remains separated from his family.

Denying this man his fundamental rights is unnecessarily cruel,” Capus stressed in comments seen by Worthy News.

Elsewhere in the region, courts in Kazakhstan have upheld accreditation denials for multiple RFE/RL journalists.

RFE/RL has filed legal challenges, while the Committee to Protect Journalists urged Kazakh authorities to reinstate accreditation, warning of serious harm to press freedom.

RFE/RL and international watchdogs say journalists critical of government policies, elections, or the war in Ukraine are increasingly treated as criminals across the region, often following closed trials and prolonged detention.

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