many believe that lukashenko wants to recreate stalin style grip on the country, so nobody dares to contest the next election. many belarussians came here to lithuania in an attempt to flee the repressions. there are currently around 19,000 of them living here. in retaliation, the belarussian regime has decided to target their relatives who stayed behind. and many fear that this isjust the beginning. anatoly was detained more times than he can remember, but he says that families of activists were not being targeted before. translation: this is the first time. it was always a war, but there were some rules. there were some lines they wouldn t cross. now we have gotten to the point where, before shooting their enemies, they put our children in front of us. in a country that claims to have no political prisoners, there are currently almost 1,500 people in prison for political reasons. one of them is ex presidential hopeful viktar babaryka. his son eduard was his campaign manager
many believe that lukashenko wants to recreate stalin style grip on the country, so nobody dares to contest the next election. many belarussians came here to lithuania in an attempt to flee the repressions. there are currently around 19,000 of them living here. in retaliation, the belarussian regime has decided to target their relatives who stayed behind. and many fear that this isjust the beginning. anatoly was detained more times than he can remember, but he says that families of activists were not being targeted before. translation: this is the first time. it was always a war, but there were some rules. there were some lines they wouldn t cross. now we have gotten to the point where, before shooting their enemies, they put our children in front of us.
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across europe, demonstrations have been held to show solidarity with the people of belarus. gail maclellan has the latest. support in poland for the opposition in neighbouring belarus. frustration and anger, too. pro democracy rallies all but eliminated in belarus itself by the fear of autocratic president alexander lukashenko. here and in other european countries, they are calling for the release of a belarussian dissident who, along with his girlfriend, was arrested when their flight was diverted to land in minsk. the pair s detention sparked global outrage and prompted the eu to urge airlines to avoid belarussian airspace. at a rally in warsaw, roman protasevich s mother called on the eu and the us to help free her son and others imprisoned by the belarussian regime. president alexander lukashenko, who s been in powerfor 27 years, has been nicknamed europe s last dictator. a huge police crackdown has curbed street protests and sent opposition leaders to prison or into exile.
countries, they are calling for the release of a belarussian dissident who, along with his girlfriend, was arrested when their flight was diverted to land in minsk. the pair s detention sparked global outrage and prompted the eu to urge airlines to avoid belarussian airspace. at a rally in warsaw, roman protasevich s mother called on the eu and the us to help free her son and others imprisoned by the belarussian regime. president alexander lukashenko, who s been in powerfor 27 years, has been nicknamed europe s last dictator. a huge police crackdown has curbed street protests and sent opposition leaders to prison or into exile. one of those responded to the rallies in lithuania. translation: i am excited about the support i see - in lithuania and other parts of the world. it s a pity that a year has passed and we are not yet at the final point. i believe that there