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https://apnews.com/article/belarus-crackdown-lukashenko-political-opponents-exiles-c4be86b4417aac2ac3b301f93ba60fa8>
"TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — More than a half-million Belarusians have fled their
country in the past four years as the authoritarian government launched a harsh
crackdown on its political opponents. Some of them, however, are discovering
that they can’t escape intimidation and threats in their new lives abroad.
Dziana Maiseyenka, 28, was detained without warning while crossing the border
from Armenia to Georgia, where she had taken refuge from Belarus a year ago to
escape what she called “the nightmare at home.”
Authorities in Minsk, she was told, had issued an international arrest warrant
against her on charges of “organizing mass unrest.”
She knows what a return to Belarus will mean: Her father was imprisoned for
nearly three years on similar charges. When he was released last year, he was
promptly arrested again.
As hard-line President Alexander Lukashenko seeks his seventh term next year to
extend his three-decade rule, opposition leaders in exile say he is ramping up
the pressure on Belarusians who moved abroad. The aim is to avoid a repeat of
the mass protests that broke out around the 2020 election by quashing any
opposition support from abroad.
Months of large demonstrations over that widely denounced balloting resulted in
more than 65,000 people arrested over the last four years, with many of them
severely beaten, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna. Its
Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatski, is among those imprisoned."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
