Lawyers have filed a criminal complaint in Germany on behalf of 10 Belarusians alleging that authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has committed crimes against humanity.
Noted Belarusian Lawyer Who Defended Independent Journalists Leaves Country
May 03, 2021 11:40 GMT
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MINSK Belarusian lawyer Syarhey Zikratski, who has defended independent journalists during the ongoing police crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election last year, has left the country for Lithuania after his license to practice law was withdrawn in late March.
Zikratski announced his decision to leave Belarus in a Facebook post on May 3, saying that while abroad he will do everything he can to change the situation in Belarus.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Zikratski said that he is already in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, along with his wife and two children. He said his family has been under enormous stress since rallies started after the August 9 presidential election that returned authoritarian Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, to power. The opposition says the vote was rigged.
Amnesty International says Belarusian workers are facing reprisals in their attempts to set up independent trade unions amid pro-democracy protests that followed a presidential election last year that opposition leaders and the West say was rigged.
Amnesty International says Belarusian workers are facing reprisals in their attempts to set up independent trade unions amid pro-democracy protests that followed a presidential election last year that opposition leaders and the West say was rigged.
Chernobyl Anniversary Rally Prevented In Minsk, But Women March Peacefully Elsewhere In City
April 27, 2021 06:26 GMT
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Belarusian authorities have enforced tight security measures in Minsk to prevent an opposition rally marking the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Military and police forces flooded the center of the Belarusian capital on April 26, blocking central avenues to thwart the march. Police arrested about 20 people, according to the Vyasna human rights group.
The actions were part of an ongoing brutal crackdown on protests that began after a disputed reelection in August that gave strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term, a vote that the opposition says was rigged.