A political prisoner in Belarus smuggles out account of beatings after writing on toilet paper

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A political prisoner in Belarus has shed light on the country’s brutal prison system by smuggling out her story written on pieces of toilet paper.

Katsiaryna Novikava, 38, described being repeatedly beaten by security forces after she was detained in June 2023 wearing only a nightshirt. She became one of hundreds of political prisoners in the country of 9.5 million people ruled by authoritarian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

“Everyone who was in the office beat me. They hit me on the head,” Novikava wrote, describing how she was assaulted during interrogation in several detention centers. Her account was published in independent Belarusian media.

Belarus was rocked by mass protests during Lukashenko’s controversial re-election in August 2020 for a sixth term, which the opposition and Western nations condemned as fraudulent. Since then, Belarusian authorities have detained more than 35,000 people, many of whom were tortured in custody, forced to flee the country and labeled “extremists” by authorities, according to the Belarusian human rights center Viasna.