TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — An imprisoned opposition activist in Belarus resurfaced Wednesday in a video shot by a pro-government blogger after over 700 days of no contact with his family, weeks before an election that is all but certain keep the country's strongman leader in power.
Viktar Babaryka, 61, has been denied meetings with his family and lawyers while serving a 14-year sentence in a penal colony after failing to get on the ballot against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in a 2020 election.
Babaryka was last heard from in February 2023, and other prisoners said later that year he was hospitalized with signs of beatings. Since then, authorities haven’t released any information about his condition and barred his lawyer from visits. The European Parliament has urged authorities to release him and other political prisoners.
Raman Pratasevich, a former opposition journalist who later became a government supporter after being arrested himself, posted photos and a brief video in which Babaryka greeted his family.
It wasn't clear when or under what conditions the images were taken, and The Associated Press could not independently verify them.
Babaryka, who looked visibly thinner than in his last appearance, was pictured wearing a prison uniform bearing a yellow tag designating him as a political prisoner and thus subjecting him to particularly harsh prison conditions.
Pavel Sapelka, a representative of the Viasna Human Rights Center, noted that the images were released ahead of the Jan. 26 presidential election, in which Lukashenko is seeking a seventh, five-year term to add to his more than three decades in power.
“The authorities decided to show Babaryka in the run-up to the election to avoid accusations of forced disappearance of opposition activists behind bars,” Sapelka said. “The terribly emaciated Babaryka epitomizes the nightmare of repressions in Belarus, a sad reminder for others who dare to challenge Lukashenko.”
In November, Pratasevich posted photos of Maria Kolesnikova, another prominent opposition activist who had been held for more than 20 months without any communication with relatives or friends.
Babaryka is one of 1,258 political prisoners in Belarus, according to Viasna, the country's leading human rights group. Top opposition figures were imprisoned or fled the country amid the sweeping crackdown that followed the 2020 election. Authorities responded to massive demonstrations protesting vote-rigging with brutal repressions in which about 65,000 people were arrested and thousands were brutally beaten by police.
At least seven political prisoners have died in custody, according to Viasna.
Like Babaryka, many other opposition activists have been held incommunicado.
Lukashenko pardoned some political prisoners last year but authorities launched a new wave of arrests before the election, seeking to uproot any sign of dissent.
Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country after challenging Lukashenko in the 2020 vote, said she was happy to see Babaryka alive and demanded that authorities release information about others who have been held incommunicado, including her husband, activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski.
“We must now demand to see all others who have been held in complete isolation, and the cruel and inhumane incommunicado practice must stop,” she said.
Pratasevich ran a Telegram messaging app channel widely used by participants in the 2020 protests. He was living in exile when he was arrested in 2021 after being pulled off a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania that was diverted to Minsk by a bomb threat. Once in custody, he made several confessional appearances on state television that critics claimed were made under duress. He was later released and pardoned.
“We consider Pratasevich a hostage. He’s doing all what is ordered by the Belarusian authorities,” Sapelka said.
FILE - People carrying an old Belarusian national flag ,that has become an anti-government symbol, march in an opposition rally to protest the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, on Oct. 18, 2020. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - People walk past informational posters supporting Viktar Babaryka, who wanted to run in the upcoming presidential elections, in Minsk, Belarus, on June 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
FILE - Viktar Babaryka, a former presidential hopeful, makes a heart gesture while sitting in a defendants’ cage during his trial in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 17, 2021. (Oksana Manchuk/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Viktar Babaryka, a former presidential hopeful, stands inside a defendants’ cage during his trial in Minsk, Belarus, on July 6, 2021. (Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA Pool Photo via AP, File)
BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit Myanmar nearly a week ago rose Thursday to 3,085 as search and rescue teams found more bodies, the military-led government said, and humanitarian aid groups scrambled to provide survivors medical care and shelter.
In a short statement, the military said another 4,715 people have been injured and 341 are missing.
The epicenter of Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake was near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city. It brought down thousands of buildings, buckled roads and destroyed bridges in multiple regions.
Local media reports of casualties have been much higher than the official figures and with telecommunications widely out and many places difficult to reach, it's thought the numbers could rise sharply as more details come in.
The World Health Organization said that according to its initial assessment, four hospitals and one health center had been completely destroyed while another 32 hospitals and 18 health centers had been partially damaged.
“With infrastructure compromised and patient numbers surging, access to health care has become nearly impossible in many of the worst-hit areas,” the U.N. said. “Thousands of people are in urgent need of trauma care, surgical interventions and treatment for disease outbreaks.”
A mobile hospital from India and a joint Russian-Belarusian hospital also were now operating in Mandalay.
With many left homeless by the earthquake, and many others staying away from their homes over fears ongoing aftershocks will bring them down, workers in Naypyitaw labored in the 40 degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) busily erected big tents in open fields to provide some shelter.
Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into a civil war.
The quake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, with more than 3 million people displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.
As concerns grew that ongoing fighting could hamper humanitarian aid efforts, the military declared a temporary ceasefire Wednesday, through April 22. The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule.
The military said it would still take “necessary” measures against those groups if they use the ceasefire to regroup, train or launch attacks.
Already on Thursday there were reports from local media in Kachin state in the north of Myanmar that military attacks continued in several areas, but they could not be independently confirmed. Prior to the earthquake the military was battling the Kachin Independence Army militia group. The earthquake shook Kachin, but there have been no reports of damage there.
In Bangkok, where the quake brought down a skyscraper under construction, the search for survivors and bodies continued as Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said a possible sound of life was detected in the rubble. By mid-afternoon, more than 144 hours after the earthquake, nobody had been found.
Twenty-two people were killed and 35 injured in the city, mostly by the collapse of the unfinished building.
Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai contributed to this report.
Rescuers carry the body of a victim, from a collapsed building in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescuers carry the body of a victim, from a collapsed building in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescue members carry a dead body from a collapsed building in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescuers carry the body of a victim, from a collapsed building, in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescuers scan the rubbles at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Rescuers manually clear the rubble after getting a sign of life at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April, 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Rescuers return after accessing the situation at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April, 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Rescuers manually clear the rubble after getting a sign of life at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April, 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Rescuers manually clear the rubble after getting a sign of life at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April, 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Workers clean and wash the road outside the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, April, 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
