New Zealand needs to speak out against allegations of mass torture and brutality in Belarus following the Eastern European country's recent elections, a Belarusian national living in New Zealand says.

Last Sunday's election – in which strongman Alexander Lukashenko claimed 80 per cent of the vote in a result widely seen as fraudulent – has triggered days of mass protests throughout Belarus, often referred to as Europe's last dictatorship. Lukashenko has been in power since 1994.

More than 6000 protesters have been detained since Sunday's rigged vote, many beaten or tortured in the country's prisons, according to Amnesty International and other reports.

Vadim Chausov, an IT professional who moved to New Zealand from Belarus's capital Minsk in 2014, told the Democracy Project podcast the Lukashenko regime pays attention to international criticism.

"Any support would be great and it actually makes a difference. The government, Lukashenko, they do follow international reaction. It does make a difference – it can release someone, it can help to release someone from prison sooner. Anything that New Zealand can do.

"We all have enough on our plates at the moment and Belarus is far away. But I also know that Kiwis value human rights and freedom, and especially the right to vote. There are not too many Belarusians in New Zealand but Belarus just needs all the international support it can get.

"My wife was trying to write to Jacinda Ardern on Instagram. I don't think she has seen that message yet – I'm sure she's busy."

KGB prison

Vadim Chausov is particularly concerned about the fate of a friend, PhD student Stas Gorelik, who is being held in a Soviet-era prison run by the Belarusian KGB.

Harrowing descriptions of beatings and torture of detainees have spread since Sunday's election.

"He is a political science PhD student but wasn't even actively involved in the protests, he wasn't on the streets the night after the election. But nevertheless he was arrested in his apartment.