The suppression of human rights in Belarus has a long history but reached its unprecedented peak in the last five years. After the disputed presidential elections of August 2020, the incumbent Aliaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory amidst allegations of fraud and widely reported electoral irregularities. Peaceful protests erupted that the Belarusian authorities brutally suppressed using unlawful force, detaining tens of thousands of demonstrators and subjecting many of them to torture and other ill-treatment. The human rights situation has since been further deteriorating and the authorities have deployed every tool at their disposal to stifle and punish dissent not only inside Belarus but beyond its borders to those in exile.
The repression has escalated further in the run up to the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for 26 January 2025. As the people of Belarus are expected to come and cast their votes at the polling stations, they will do so in an atmosphere
of fear, deprived of their right to freedom of expression, and conscious of the dire consequences for those who express that
they want to have a free choice in choosing the country’s leadership.