Paul Goble
Staunton, Sept. 17 – At a time when Minsk is winning plaudits from some Western governments for its release of a few political prisoners, Lukashenka is tightening government control over the lives of Belarusians as a whole through the introduction of increasingly totalitarian laws, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee warns.
Yekaterina Deykalo, a lawyer for that group, tells RFI’s Russian service that the Belarusian dictator is not only moving in the same directions Putin is in Russia but in some regards is even exceeding him in repression (rfi.fr/ru/европа/20250918-белорусский-хельсинкский-комитет-государство-усиливает-контроль-за-личной-жизнью-белорусов).
Among the measures that Lukashenka has introduced are laws restricting the rights of sexual minorities, the right of those living in Belarus to take online courses from foreign educational institutions, and the right of Belarusians to choose their own professions rather than have the government make such decisions.
And at the same time, Deykalo continues, Lukashenka has militarized the country’s educational system and opened the way for even more government monitoring of the private lives of Belarusians, all things that should be kept in mind by those who view his release of a few prisoners as a genuine turning point.
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