Tallinn, Estonia—— The yellow name tag on Ales Bialiatski's prison uniform sets him apart from other inmates at the No. 9 Labor Camp in eastern Belarus.

This marked the beginning of Bialjadsky's status as a political prisoner and was treated harshly. Because he was labeled an "extremist" by authorities, he was regularly denied medication, food parcels at home and contact with relatives, and was subjected to forced labor and placed in a punishment cell, according to former prisoners.

Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has often claimed during his three decades in power that there are no political prisoners in Belarus, but activists say Belarus currently holds about 1,300 political prisoners. Many endure poor living conditions, such as 62-year-old Bialiatski, who will win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for his human rights activities but whose health is believed to be deteriorating.

Belarus will hold a presidential election on January 26, with no real opposition candidate. This all but ensures a seventh term for Lukashenko, who was dubbed "Europe's last dictator" when he first took office.

The vote once again shined a spotlight on Belarus' human rights record after the 2020 vote was condemned as fraudulent at home and abroad. It sparked massive anti-government protests that led to a harsh crackdown on dissent and thousands of arrests.

"Bialadsky's fate underlines the catastrophe that Lukashenko's regime has plunged Belarus into in the middle of Europe," said opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran in the 2020 elections but was forced into exile. (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya) said.

Her husband, activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was also imprisoned and has not been heard from for nearly 700 days.

"If the authorities openly insult a Nobel laureate and openly make his life a living hell, then it is not difficult to imagine the torture that thousands of other Belarusian political prisoners are going through," Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press.

Lukashenko has pardoned a number of political opponents in recent months, but critics say it's a revolving door with his government arresting others in an ongoing crackdown. Nearly 65,000 people have been arrested since 2020, with many claiming they were beaten or tortured in detention, something the government denies. Activists say at least seven people have died in prison.

Bialjadski was arrested in 2021 during a KGB raid in the country. In March 2023, he was convicted of smuggling and financing "serious violations of public order" and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Authorities classified him as particularly dangerous because of his alleged "extremist" tendencies.

Bialyadski's wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told The Associated Press in an interview in December that he was transferred to the harsh conditions of the No. 9 labor camp in 2023 and has been there since August. Haven't heard from him. A food parcel she sent him was returned to her in November - an ominous sign of his dire situation.

She said she had received only fragmentary information from other inmates: that his health had deteriorated from months in solitary confinement, that his chronic illness was worsening and that he needed "special medical care."

"His most recent letters were written in large font, which suggested he was having problems with his vision. I also knew he had lost a lot of weight and needed medication," Pinchuk said.

Many in Belarus and the West linked the harsh treatment of Bialyadski to his activities with the human rights group Viasna. Viasna helped thousands of people targeted by law enforcement during the post-election protests and documented widespread violations.

The government responded by closing Viasna's office and arresting six key members. Four of them - Valiantsin Stefanovic, Uladzimir Labkovich, Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapiuk - are serving sentences ranging from five years and nine months to nearly 15 years.

"When the repression intensified and became very dangerous, I asked Ales to consider leaving Belarus," his wife said. “But by then, the Viasna activists had been arrested and he said he could not leave them behind.”

While in detention, Bialyadsky was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with two other human rights organizations - Russia Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. It was seen as the Nobel Committee's rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But things only got worse for Bialjadski. Former prisoners say Labor Camp No. 9, near the eastern city of Horki, where felons are sent, is known for beatings, food deprivation and forced labor.

Ruslan Akostka, who was released from exile in July, told The Associated Press that prisoners were ordered not to talk to Bialyadski or they would end up in isolation cells.

He recalled watching an emaciated Bialjadsky spend hours assembling wooden pallets and military ammunition boxes, which he called "slave labor."

"Lunch - a few spoons of potatoes. Bialyadski was very thin and, like everyone, he often walked around hungry," Akostka said. "It all looks like a concentration camp. After all, hungry prisoners are easier to manage."

Viasna activist Leanid Sudalenka, who fled Belarus in 2024 after serving three years in another colony, described Prison 9 as a place where authorities sought to "incarcerate" political prisoners.

"Bialjadsky may not survive at all until he is released," he said. The Nobel Prize winner will be 70 years old at the end of his sentence.

"The authorities are creating conditions akin to torture for political prisoners," Sudarenka said, adding that he had seen prisoners "first lose their eyesight, then their teeth, and then collapse" from exhaustion and mistreatment.

Bialyadski has been arrested more than 20 times since joining the pro-independence movement in the 1980s when Belarus was still part of the Soviet Union. He founded Viasna in 1996, which has become the country's most prominent rights organization, winning international acclaim.

In 2011, he was jailed for three years on suspicion of politically motivated tax evasion. Under Western pressure, he was released in 2014 and resumed his activities.

Bialyadsky was behind bars at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo, but Pinchuk spoke in his place, describing Belarus as a country where "the cold wind from the east collides with the warmth of the European Renaissance."

Human rights activists urging his release include Oleg Orlov, co-founder of the Russian Remembrance group, who was freed in August along with other Kremlin critics in the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War .

Speaking in Vilnius in October, Orlov said it was "unfair" that Bialyadski and other Belarusian figures were excluded from the exchange.

Viasna said Belarus has released 227 political prisoners since June 2024, most of whom were imprisoned after the 2020 protests. But Bialjadsky and other leading opposition figures, such as Tsikhanouski and Victa Barbarica, remain behind bars.

Viasna's Sudarenka said Western leaders seeking Bialyadsky's release had encountered "obstacles" and authorities in Minsk had called for sanctions against the country to be lifted.

He said Belarusian officials "view political prisoners as a commodity and Bialyadsky as a particularly valuable asset."

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in July that Bialjadski was imprisoned "on the basis that he exercised freedom of expression and assembly."

Viasna activist Pavel Saperka said Bialjadski's story illustrates the failure of the United Nations and other world bodies to get dictators to respect basic human rights.

Sapelka said this "not only shows that the situation in Belarus is deteriorating, but also sharply exposes" the inability of the international community to protect those who defend freedom.