International campaigning continues in support of prisoners in Belarus accused of acts of sabotage against the country’s railways in the mass protests of 2020, and in protests earlier this year against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the summer and autumn of 2020 protests and demonstrations swept through Belarus after Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared the winner in an election which international monitors dismissed as one based on intimidation, repression, violence and straightforward ballot-rigging.
International campaigning continues in support of prisoners in Belarus accused of acts of sabotage against the country’s railways in the mass protests of 2020, and in protests earlier this year against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the summer and autumn of 2020 protests and demonstrations swept through Belarus after Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared the winner in an election which international monitors dismissed as one based on intimidation, repression, violence and straightforward ballot-rigging.
The Belarusian regime is threatening “railway partisans”, arrested for sabotaging signalling equipment to disrupt the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the death sentence.
The saboteurs drew inspiration from an earlier episode in Belarusian history, during World War II, when Belarusians opposed to the Nazi occupation blew up railway lines and train stations to disrupt German supply lines.
The saboteurs drew inspiration from an earlier episode in Belarusian history, during World War II, when Belarusians opposed to the Nazi occupation blew up railway lines and train stations to disrupt German supply lines.