Front Line Defenders, or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is an Irish-based human rights organisation founded in Dublin, Ireland in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uphold the human rights of others as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Francišak Valancinavič (Franak) Viačorka (Viacorka) is a politician and journalist from Belarus, President of the Digital Communication Network and non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
MikolaViktaravich Statkevich is a Belarusian lieutenant colonel, politician, and opposition leader who was a presidential candidate at the 2010 Belarusian presidential election. Since 31 May 2020 he is held in prison by Belarusian authorities. Viasna Human Rights Centre recognized him as a political prisoner. On 14 December 2021, Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
Ales Viktaravich Bialiatski is a Belarusian pro-democracy activist and prisoner of conscience known for his work with the Viasna Human Rights Centre. An activist for Belarusian independence and democracy since the early 1980s, Bialiatski is a founding member of Viasna and the Belarusian Popular Front, serving as leader of the latter from 1996 to 1999. He is also a member of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition. He has been called "a pillar of the human rights movement in Eastern Europe" by The New York Times, and recognised as a prominent pro-democracy activist in Belarus.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky, also transliterated as Syarhey Leanidavich Tsikhanouski, is a Belarusian YouTuber, video blogger, dissident and pro-democracy activist. He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience. He is known primarily for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the 2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election.
Sviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya is a Belarusian political activist. After standing as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election against the president Alexander Lukashenko, she has led the political opposition to his authoritarian rule through an oppositional government operating from Lithuania and Poland.
The Coordination Council for the Transfer of Power is a non-governmental body created by presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus. The council, founded during the 2020 Belarusian protests in response to the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election, has 64 core members with a 7-member leadership presidium.
Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian professional flautist and political activist. In 2020, she headed Viktar Babaryka's electoral campaign during presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus. Kalesnikava represented the united campaign of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then she became a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020 Belarusian protests in opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. She is also a founder of the 'Razam' political party.
Pavel Pavlovich Latushko is a Belarusian politician and diplomat. He was the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus from 2009 to 2012.
Olga Kovalkova, also known as Volha Kavalkova, is a Belarusian activist and a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council of Belarus that was formed by the presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to transition the political power in Belarus in the aftermath the 2020 Belarusian protests and the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election.
National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) is a "shadow-government-like" organisation created in Belarus by Pavel Latushko in late October 2020 during the 2020 Belarusian protests with approval of the Belarusian Coordination Council. In 2022, a complementary cabinet structure, the United Transitional Cabinet, was created, with Latushko holding responsibility for the transition of power.
Illia Salei is a Belarusian lawyer and pro-democracy activist, member of Viktar Babaryka's team and presidential campaign office at time of the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Attorney of presidential candidates Viktar Babaryka and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as well as an opposition leader and a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council of Belarus Maria Kalesnikava. Former political prisoner and prisoner of conscience recognised by Amnesty International.
Alana Tadege Gebremariam is a Belarusian pro-democracy activist and feminist. She was the first woman of African ancestry to run in the 2019 general election.
The United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus is an alternative government for Belarus that was formed in August 2022.
Aliaksandr Azarau is a former police investigator in Belarusian security services including the Investigative Committee of Belarus and GUBOPiK. As of 2022, he is head of the Belarusian opposition police group BYPOL. Azarau was responsible for law and order as a member of the United Transitional Cabinet of the Belarusian opposition from August 2022 to 6 August 2023.
Valery Kavaleuski is a Belarusian former diplomat. On 9 August 2022, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya appointed him as the Deputy Head and Representative for Foreign Affairs to the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus that is opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko. Before that Kavaleuski was Representative on international affairs and then the Head of the Cabinet of Representatives in Tsikhanouskaya's team.
Valery Stepanovich Sakhashchyk is a former commander of the Belarusian 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. Following the 24 February 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sakhashchyk launched video appeals calling for Belarusian forces to refuse to participate in any attack against Ukraine. On 9 August 2022, he was nominated as the effective defence minister of the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet, a government-in-exile opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Events of the year 2023 in Belarus.
