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Reuters
Reuters
Politics

Belarusian opposition leader believes blogger tortured

FILE PHOTO: Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya meets Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Affairs Minister Sigrid Kaag to discuss forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident Belarusian journalist on board, in The Hague, Netherlands May 28, 2021. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Belarus's leading opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Monday that detained blogger Roman Protasevich had been beaten and tortured in jail.

A lawyer who visited Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega said he was fine, "but it's doubtful, because for sure he was tortured, for sure he was beaten", she told reporters at a news conference in Tallinn.

Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were detained on May 23 after their plane was forced to land in Minsk. Tsikhanouskaya offered no evidence for her assertion, though Protasevich's family has also said a video of him from detention showed signs of torture.

Belarus denies abusing detainees.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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