Ales Mikhalevich sent a letter to the United Nations Committee Against Torture describing his treatment at the hands of secret police, which still uses its old name KGB in the former Soviet nation.
During his two months in prison, he was deprived of sleep and forced to spend long periods in a freshly painted cell without ventilation. He said that following his torture he was forced to sign a paper in which he pledged to cooperate.
“After my joints crunched I did all they wanted.”
Mikhalevich and six other presidential candidates were among more than 700 people arrested after massive protests against fraud in the Dec. 19 vote in which authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected. International observers said the vote was rigged.