Belarus Now has 55 Times More Political Prisoners than It Did in 2020, ‘Vyasna’ Center Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 9 – Since 2020 when Alyaksandr Lukashenka lost the Belarusian presidential election in Belarus but nonetheless remained in power, the number of political prisoners in his country has increased more than 55 times, from 25 to 1385, according to Belarus’s Vyasna Human Rights Center.

            Because of Vladimir Putin’s increasing repression and aggression, most people have stopped referring to Lukashenka as “the last dictator in Europe.” He certainly is not the last if he ever was, but it is critically important to remember that he is a dictator and that the population under his control continues to suffer as a result (doxa.team/news/2024-08-09-vyasna).

            Lukashenka certainly deserves to be bracketed with Putin as a dictator although the Belarusian head’s crimes in that respect pale in that respect; and people of good will everywhere must seek the removal of both and their replacement by democratic leaders, however discredited the term “regime change” may have become in some quarters.