- Stepan Latypov, 41, was filmed trying to cut his own throat with a pen in court on Tuesday.
- Latypov was arrested in a crackdown on dissent by
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's regime. - It comes days after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight to land in order to arrest another opposition figure.
A Belarusian prisoner detained in protests against President Alexander Lukashenko's disputed reelection was filmed stabbing himself in court on Tuesday after saying he was tortured and threatened by the police.
According to Viasna, a human rights organization, 41-year-old Stepan Latypov said he had been tortured in a jail cell for 51 days, and that police told him that his family and neighbors would face prosecution if he did not plead guilty to the charges against him.
Latypov then proceeded to stab himself with an object that appeared to be a pen.
A friend of Latypov, named Irina, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he "took something white in his teeth, and started literally to cut his throat. Everyone started screaming. Police officers could not open the defendant's cage for awhile. He fell unconscious. We were taken out of the courtroom," according to Reuters.
Viasna and other local media report that Latypov is still alive, Reuters reports. Belarus' Health Ministry said that a 41-year-old man who stabbed himself in a courtroom is in stable condition after being treated under anaesthetic, according to Reuters.
Latypov was arrested in September while trying to stop state workers from trying to paint over an opposition mural in his apartment's courtyard, according to Reuters and The New York Times. He faces charges of organizing riots, resisting police, and fraud, according to Reuters.
There was widespread unrest in Belarus in August and September, when President Lukashenko won reelection by an overwhelming margin - a result the European Union dismissed as fraudulent.
He is one of 454 political prisoners currently behind held by the country's law enforcement, according to a list published by Viasna.
Latypov's apparent suicide attempt comes just days after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land, in order to arrest another opposition figure, Roman Protasevich. The EU has responded to that incident by banning Belarusian planes from its airspace and establishing a no-fly zone over the country.
Belarusians have been fleeing the country since the disputed presidential election last summer, but on Tuesday,the country made it hard for those remaining to leave. Now, only those with permanent residencies in other countries will be allowed to leave, according to The Times.