Authoritarian Rule Persists in Silence within Belarus under Lukashenko's Leadership
In Belarus, under the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko, the situation for political prisoners remains dire and deeply repressive. As of mid-2025, over 1,100 individuals are detained for political reasons, according to the NGO Viasna operating in exile.
The authorities systematically use political imprisonment as a tool to suppress dissent, often compensating releases of some prisoners with new arrests. Torture and ill-treatment in prisons and penal colonies continue, leading to serious physical and mental health damage among detainees.
One such political prisoner is Palina Charenda-Panassiouk, a woman in her fifties who was arrested in January 2021. She was subjected to forced labor in a sewing workshop, where she suspected the military uniforms she was making were destined for Moscow's army. During her imprisonment, she was marked with a yellow insignia, which identified her as a political prisoner, and was at the mercy of the guards' mood and humiliating treatment.
Palina was regularly sent to the punishment cell, where she slept on mattresses unfit for pigs and spent 270 days in disciplinary isolation without seeing daylight. She resisted and faced multiple criminal cases for disobedience, extending her sentence.
Upon her release, Palina found herself in Lukashenko's Belarus, an open-air prison. Ex-prisoners like Palina find themselves labeled "extremists," under surveillance, confined to their residences, and with no possibility of finding work or opening a bank account.
Palina has since found refuge in a small town in eastern Poland. She is often referred to as the "Belarusian Joan of Arc" for her courage and resilience in the face of oppression.
Another political prisoner, Kiryll Balakhanau, was arrested in 2022 for showing support for Ukraine. He was released after high-level negotiations between Lukashenko and the special envoy of President Trump. Upon his release, Kiryll saw an Ukrainian flag waving in the breeze in Lithuania, his new city of exile. Now, he speaks without fear, like the pro-Ukrainian emblem he wears.
Despite the release of some prisoners, arrests continue daily in Belarus. Kanstantsin Staradubets, a Viasna activist, states that while people are being released, the cycle of arrests and imprisonment continues.
The Belarusian prison system is part of an intent to crush opponents through cruelty, with many emerging forever broken. The situation for political prisoners in Belarus under Lukashenko's rule remains a significant concern for human rights organisations worldwide.
[1] Amnesty International. (2021). Belarus: Political prisoners subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/06/belarus-political-prisoners-subjected-to-torture-and-other-ill-treatment/
[4] Human Rights Watch. (2021). Belarus: Political Prisoners Subjected to Torture and Ill-Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/29/belarus-political-prisoners-subjected-torture-and-ill-treatment
[5] Reporters Without Borders. (2021). Belarus: Journalists under threat. Retrieved from https://rsf.org/en/belarus-journalists-under-threat
- In light of the ongoing political repression in Belarus, war-and-conflicts sections of general news outlets might cover the continued arrests and treatment of political prisoners like Palina Charenda-Panassiouk and Kiryll Balakhanau, as documented by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
- Politics and crime-and-justice segments could focus on the broader context of these abuses, including the systemic use of political imprisonment as a tool to suppress dissent and the international responses, such as negotiations between Lukashenko and the special envoy of President Trump for the release of Kiryll Balakhanau.
