The number of political prisoners rapidly increased in Belarus. Now near 1450. The war in Ukraine and solidarity of Belarusians and civil society grant new reasons for Lukashenka's regime. Civic activism and basic freedom of expression is under heavy prosecution.
In the aftermath of the presidential election in August 2020, thousands of people fled Belarus to seek refuge in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Lithuani
Belarusian Foreign Policy in Circumstances Beyond Minsk s Control jamestown.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jamestown.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On 13 October Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya made an ultimatum on behalf of the oppositional Coordinating Council. If Lukashenko didn’t resign, she would call for a peaceful nationwide rejection of his rule and a general strike from 25 October. The strike call gave a boost to the protests against Lukashenko. The weekly Sunday demonstration in Minsk on 25 October was larger than it had been for over a month, probably close to 100,000.
Writing about the Belarusian opposition (BO) can be risky because any expressed negativity toward the opposition leaders is perceived in some quarters as tantamount to supporting dictatorship. Certainly, a healthy opposition is a valuable societal outlet for expressing legitimate disagreement with the authorities. And this is especially true in Belarus, where the electoral outcome officially made public on August 9, …