Blogger Roman Protasevich met with politician Viktor Babariko, sentenced to 14 years, in the colony, and he published photos and videos of the meeting on his Telegram channel. Protasevich said he came to the colony in Novopolotsk to "deliver messages from his family to him and to send his letter back."
Former head of "Belgazprombank" Viktor Babariko intended to participate in the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, he was considered the main rival of Alexander Lukashenko, but was detained on June 18, 2020, along with his son Eduard. In 2021, the court sentenced him to 14 years in the colony under articles on bribery and "money laundering," his son was held in pre-trial detention for two years and then sentenced to eight years in prison.
For a long time, Viktor Babariko was held in complete isolation, nothing was known about him for more than 600 days.
A significantly thinner Viktor Babariko addressed his family in the video, and Protasevich reported that the opposition leader "looks good" and is in "high spirits."
Roman Protasevich is the former editor-in-chief of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta. In May 2021, a passenger plane on which Protasevich was flying from Athens to Vilnius, while in Belarusian airspace, received a bomb threat and was forced to land at Minsk airport. There, Protasevich was arrested by security forces. He was sentenced in Belarus but was pardoned by Lukashenko. He is now cooperating with Belarusian propagandists.