The Belarusian Social Democratic Party (People's Assembly) (Belarusian: Беларуская сацыял-дэмакратычная партыя (Народная Грамада), romanized: Bielaruskaja Sacyjal-Demakratyčnaja Partyja (Narodnaja Hramada); Russian: Белорусская социал-демократическая партия (Народная Грамада), romanized: Belorusskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya partiya (Narodnaya Gramada)) is an unregistered social-democratic political party in Belarus that opposes the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) is a Belarusian professional association of journalists from independent media, created in 1995 to protect freedom of speech, freedom of information, promote the professional standards of journalism, conduct monitoring of Belarusian press, and offer legal support to all media workers.
Censorship in Belarus, although prohibited by the country's constitution, is enforced by a number of laws. These include a law that makes insulting the president punishable by up to five years in prison, and another that makes criticizing Belarus abroad punishable by up to two years in prison.
Tut.By was an independent news, media and service internet portal, one of the five most popular websites in Belarus in the Russian language, and the most popular news web portal in the country. After its owning company was closed down by the Minsk Economic Court in June 2022, its successor Zerkalo.io remains online as of September 2022.
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.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Volha Samusik was a Belarusian rock singer and journalist.
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.
The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held.
Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian professional flautist and political activist. In 2020, she headed Viktor Babariko's electoral campaign during presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus. Kalesnikava represented the united campaign of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 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.
According to numerous publications citing witnesses and victims of the suppression of the 2020 Belarusian protests, the events were accompanied by extreme police violence and systematic violations of human rights on all stages of a detention process, including the widespread employment of excessive force and torture, medical assistance denial and rape.
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.
Alexander Taraikovsky was a demonstrator who died in Minsk, Belarus, during the 2020 Belarusian protests in which the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades against peaceful protestors. He was the first victim whose death was officially confirmed.
Maxim Aliaksandravič Znak is a Belarusian lawyer and politician, part of Viktar Babaryka's team, lawyer of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020–21 Belarusian protests in opposition to the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. Along with fellow opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, Znak actively participated in the demonstrations and protests against the Lukashenko government after Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had left the country. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Belarusian authorities.
Mikola Dziadok is a Belarusian journalist, anarchist activist, blogger, and political prisoner. He was released in 2015 and became in involved in the 2020 Belarusian protests. He was arrested by authorities and is currently again a political prisoner. On November 10, 2021, Dziadok was sentenced to five years in a general-security penal colony and is held in Prison Number 8.
Ihar Uladzimiravich Alinevich is a Belarusian anarchist political prisoner. On 22 December 2021, he was sentenced by a Belarusian court to 20 years of prison.
Katsiaryna Anatolewna Barysevich is a Belarusian journalist. She is a staff correspondent for the independent news site Tut.By. She has worked for European Radio for Belarus and other media. She reported on the death of Raman Bandarenka in 2020. She was arrested on November 19, 2020, in Minsk.
Katsyaryna Andreeva is a journalist from Belarus. She worked for the television channel Belsat TV. She broadcast the event from the Square of Changes in Minsk where Raman Bandarenka was beaten to death in 2020. She was arrested on site on November 15, 2020.
Volha Harbunova is a Belarusian women's rights organiser and trainer who was appointed Representative for Social Issues in the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet on 26 December 2022. Harbunova was detained on 9 November 2021 and released to a sentence of three years of house arrest on 6 May 2022 in relation to women's rights marches held in 2020. She escaped from Belarus in 2022, prior to her nomination to the United Transitional Cabinet.
Marina Zolotova is a Belarusian journalist, chief editor of Tut.by media outlet since 2004. In 2021 she was arrested under charges of large-scale tax evasion; later political charges were added to her case. She is considered a political prisoner by the European Union, the United States of America, and numerous human rights defenders. On March 17, 2023, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
