'Lukashenka's Revenge': Nearly Four Years After Mass Protests, State Crackdown Still Reshaping Belarus globalsecurity.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from globalsecurity.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Following a disputed 2020 election, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets with calls for democracy and the resignation of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka. A podcast series by RFE/RL's Belarus Service documents how the state has locked the country in a prison of fear ever since.
Jailed Belarusian opposition figure Maryya Kalesnikava has reportedly been held illegally in solitary confinement for more than a year and has had no contact with her family or friends, leaving them unsure of her state of health after she underwent surgery following an illness more than a year ago.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on her compatriots to defend their country's independence in the face of what she called "Russian imperialism."
A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced influential crime boss Salim Abduvaliev to six years in prison on charges of illegal possession and transportation of arms and explosives.