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Tag: repressions

There is still time to pressure Georgian authorities

The Georgian Dream government is still sensitive to international pressure. It is still acting as though international legitimacy is important and responding to international monitoring and reporting. But this window will close and the international community will lose some of its leverage. This is the moment to apply maximal pressure.

October 2, 2025 - Dave Elseroad

Can Belarusian civil society survive and even pose a threat to the dictatorship?

Since August 2020, Belarusian civil society has been experiencing a crackdown from the Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime that has been unprecedented in the 21st century. After widespread peaceful protests, the authorities launched a systematic extermination of all civil initiatives and NGOs without taking into consideration their political involvement. However, this did not prevent Belarusian civil society from not only existing, but developing in various forms, sometimes in ways completely surprising.

September 27, 2025 - Zmicier Mickievič

Belarusian folklore as a language of expression during repressions

Throughout history, Belarusians have turned to their rich folklore traditions in times of repression. What may appear as a period of cultural stagnation is, in fact, often a moment of resilience and creative revival. The current wave of repression is no exception – once again, Belarusian culture is finding ways to endure.

September 26, 2025 - Alina Kovalev

Authoritarian sandbox: Belarus as a testing ground for 21st century repression

This year’s so-called presidential elections in Belarus were nothing more than a staged farce, designed to legitimize Lukashenka’s continued authoritarian rule. The absence of genuine competition, the lack of transparency, and the climate of fear surrounding the process underscored the regime’s disregard for democratic principles.

The 2025 “presidential elections” in Belarus have come and gone, leaving behind a predictable outcome: a reaffirmation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s authoritarian grip on power. Far from resembling a legitimate democratic process, the elections were a meticulously staged performance, devoid of genuine opposition, independent observers or transparency. This farce was not merely an exercise in self-reappointment – it was a glaring demonstration of a regime clinging to power through fear and repression.

July 8, 2025 - Leanid Marozau

Europe’s complex relationship with Azerbaijan

Relations between Brussels and Baku have largely been based around continued shipments of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea. However, such links obscure a delicate human rights situation in Azerbaijan that ultimately challenges Europe’s ability to both bolster and promote its liberal democratic values in the wider region.

Four years ago, Günel Hasanli was secretly filmed at home having consensual sex with her boyfriend. The video of the 38-year-old Azerbaijani woman later went viral on social media. Hasanli was publicly humiliated, it seems, for being the daughter of Jamil Hasanli: a prominent Azerbaijani historian, author and opposition politician.

July 8, 2025 - JP O'Malley

What is happening in Belarusian education and academia four years after the presidential elections of August 2020?

Most participants of the 2020 protests have already graduated, but the pressure on Belarusian education has not ceased. With the authorities still focused on students, avoiding the institutionalized propaganda is becoming ever more difficult.

November 14, 2024 - Aliaksei Piatrenka

Giving a voice to those who can no longer speak

There is an ongoing "total purge" to cleanse the world of sensitive people capable of love. It is my conscious choice to engage in socio-political art. This is my feeble attempt to make a change.

September 11, 2024 - Darya (Cemra) Siamchuk

A free and democratic Belarus based on the principles of human rights

Interview with Darya Churko, a lawyer active in the protests in Belarus, whose research concerns the repressions of the Lukashenka regime. Interviewer: Arkadiusz Zając.

December 20, 2021 - Arkadiusz Zając Darya Churko

A guideline to Belarusian repressive methods. Dealing with structural roots of dissent

The 2020 mass protests took place thanks to a vibrant private sector that produced a highly-skilled, well-paid urban class not tied to Lukashenka’s social contract. Lukashenka response can be seen partly in his Soviet upbringing and political career which produced a worldview not devoid of class-based categories. Thus, he attacked the means that sustain the existence of the opposition, with an approach reminiscent of Stalin’s policies towards kulaks.

September 28, 2021 - German Carboni

Repressions reveal the ruthlessness of the Lukashenka regime

Since August last year, the Belarusian regime under Alyaksandr Lukashenka has instituted a system of repressions which is unprecedented for Europe in the second decade of the 21st century. By the end of July this year there were 604 political prisoners in Belarus, the total number of those imprisoned after August 9th 2020 is estimated at more than 35,000. Thirty-two Belarusian journalists are currently in custody, either awaiting trial or serving their sentences.

For more than 25 out of its 30 years of independence, Belarus has been a country governed by a sophisticated state-run system of repressions. Yet since last year’s presidential elections, these repressions lost their sophistication and reached a different level in terms of quantity and “quality”. There are at least three perspectives to consider when examining what is happening in Belarus since August 9th 2020.

September 12, 2021 - Stephan Malerius

The essence of Belarusian solidarity

Thousands of Belarusians have fled to Poland. They include students, pensioners, mothers, and the children of parents who were arrested. Yet, these Belarusians continue the fight, despite the risks. They have formed structures and organisations which provide aid, political analysis and cultural promotion. And they have managed to turn the world’s eyes on Belarus.

Since the rigged presidential elections in Belarus last year, thousands of Belarusians have come to Poland seeking refuge from the repressions of the Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime. Almost a thousand of them have already received political asylum and protection. However, their struggle for democracy in Belarus did not end with their departures. In exile, they grouped, got involved and created initiatives that allowed them to not only maintain a spirit of solidarity, but to continue the fight for a free Belarus.

September 12, 2021 - Magdalena Chodownik Omar Marques

Turkey’s original sin

A conversation with Candan Badem, a Turkish historian and participant of the Scholars at Risk (SAR) programme. Interviewer: Krzysztof Popek

KRZYSZTOF POPEK: You are the first participant of the Scholars at Risk (SAR) programme in Poland and your host is the Villa Decius Institute for Culture and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. SAR protects scholars suffering from threats to their lives, liberty and well-being by arranging temporary research and teaching positions. Why were you forced to leave Turkey?

CANDAN BADEM: Since September 2016, I have not been allowed to teach or even participate in symposia at Turkish universities due to a state of emergency decree of the Recep Erdoğan regime. After the attempted coup d’état in July 2016, linked to Fethullah Gülen, an Islamist preacher who was Erdoğan’s former ally, Erdoğan announced a state of emergency and purged the opposition (along with Gülen’s supporters) from their jobs in state institutions, including universities. We still do not have key information on this attempted coup since the Erdoğan regime does not want to disclose the details and prevents a parliamentary investigation.

June 23, 2021 - Candan Badem Krzysztof Popek

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