Svetlana Sikhanovskaya is the leader of democratic Belarus.
The Belarussian village of Vyzinka is known as the birthplace of one of our greatest poets, Yanka Kupala. Recently, however, it was featured in a dismal report good by human rights activists monitoring the tyranny of the country’s autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, whose efforts to quell dissent are growing more desperate by the day.
Arrested for participating in an unauthorized political demonstration, a Vyzinka resident was taken to a local detention center, where he was made to stand and watch Lukashenko’s speeches on a television monitor for 10 hours a night for three consecutive nights was forced
If only Lukashenko could limit himself to such childish and nonsensical puns – but instead, he has launched an all-out assault on freedom of expression. According to Reporters Without Borders, Belarus has now become “one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world”.
But while the democratic Belarusian media remain a prime target for Lukashenko’s vendetta, even in exile, they continue to scrutinize his regime, inspiring thousands to keep up the fight.
As the democratic leader of Belarus – whose victory in the 2020 presidential election was illegally overturned by Lukashenko – I myself have been a victim of his vicious harassment. Threats to my life and those of my children forced me to flee into exile, and today – January 17, 2023 – marks the beginning of my trial in absentia in a Minsk court, on a string of serious charges including treason against the state. Facing a long list, inciting public riots and plotting to capture power
Well, maybe that last part is true.
I conspired with millions of Belarusian voters to usurp democratic power from a dictator who has turned our country into a vassal state of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I only became a presidential candidate because Lukashenko’s secret police locked up my husband Siyarhai for daring to oppose him. And now I find myself fighting to rally in the face of unprecedented efforts to silence our nation’s democrats.
It was in May 2021 that the rest of the world saw its first real glimpse of the lengths Lukashenko would go to in his campaign against journalists. There was a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius forcibly diverted to Minsk, following false reports of a bomb threat by Belarusian agents.
On board the flight was Roman Pratasevich, a dissident journalist from Belarus who had gone into exile to avoid arrest. Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were taken off the plane and taken into custody. But the international outcry over this state-sponsored kidnapping still failed to secure the release of the two passengers.
Sapega was eventually sentenced to six years in prison on frivolous charges. Pratasevich’s fate is unknown. He was released under house arrest, made several confessions that appear to have been extracted through torture or threats, and has not been heard from for several months.
Since then, the democratic media in Belarus has come under fire from Lukashenko.
Just a few days ago, five extraordinary women played key roles in one of the country’s most popular news websites – Tut.by put on trial Behind closed doors, on a long list of charges ranging from tax evasion to “inciting social hatred and discord”. Lyudmila Chekina, the group’s CEO, and Maryna Zoltava, editor-in-chief, have already spent 20 months in prison. Both are now battling serious illness.
Amazingly, the Belarus KGB listed these journalists as “persons involved in terrorist activities”. But Tut.by’s real “crime” was its diverse coverage of local and international affairs, including critical commentary on the criminal reversal of the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, almost all other independent media in the country have been designated as “extremist” and forced to shut down or flee. The Belarusian Association of Journalists calculates that over 400 journalists have left the country in the last few years. And with at least 33 media persons behind bars, Belarus ranks below China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Iran as the world’s most zealous jailers of journalists.
In some cases, jailed Belarusian journalists who had expired their initial sentences have been sentenced to new terms before their release. Just last year, Katsiyarna Andreeva, a reporter for Belsat TV, was about to serve a two-year sentence for reporting on the 2020 election protests, when a court Sentenced him for “giving away state secrets” and for eight years.
Even those who publicly left journalism and went silent were pursued for alleged crimes. In 2018 another Belsat TV reporter, Larisa Shchirakova, was fined for “collaborating with foreign media outlets” and subjected to repeated arrests and harassment. She announced that she was leaving journalism last February and published no further work, yet she was still Arrested On charges of “discrediting” Belarus in December. The few truly independent journalists still working in the country now operate anonymously – and at great risk to themselves and their families.
Putin has wreaked havoc across the border in Ukraine with the help of Lukashenko. Most of my people are horrified by what is happening to our neighbor, and we understand why the plight of our free media sometimes escapes attention. But giving Lukashenko free rein to suppress dissent is a mistake.
And it’s not just the people of Belarus who suffer from his narcissistic excess – his support of Putin is vital to Russia’s strategy in Ukraine. As long as Lukashenko barks like a Russian lapdog, the struggle for the independence of Ukraine will be very difficult.
In a way, the rest of the world can now support the exiled Belarus media. I am meeting global business leaders in Davos this week and urging them to support independent Belarusian newspapers, digital outlets, radio stations and television channels with advertising and subscription revenue. A free media is the lifeblood of a democracy, and it is vital that citizens of Belarus have access to facts. The alternative is torture – hours of Lukashenko campaigning aired repeatedly on state media.
I am eagerly waiting for the day when true media freedom will come back in my country. As Kupala once wrote: “Send messengers forth, send to the world’s bondage / As hawks from a hawk’s nest / Let them fly, fly till the warriors sound / Set the rumble of good tidings “