Writing about the Belarusian opposition (BO) can be risky because any expressed negativity toward the opposition leaders is perceived in some quarters as tantamount to supporting dictatorship. Certainly, a healthy opposition is a valuable societal outlet for expressing legitimate disagreement with the authorities. And this is especially true in Belarus, where the electoral outcome officially made public on Aug. 9, 2020, remains in doubt and the post-election protest rallies were notoriously crushed by the government. As of October 2021, there are 812 detainees labeled political prisoners by human rights groups. And the Belarusian government has issued a series of draconian laws that open citizens up to charges of “terrorism” simply for subscribing to certain Telegram channels. The absence of any officially tolerated conduits for voicing disagreement with such policies, thus, arguably qualifies the political regime of President Alexander Lukashenko as “dictatorial.”
Protests in Belarus
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Maria Kolesnikova, the last remaining protest leader still in Belarus, gestures making a heart shape inside the defendants' cage during her verdict hearing on charges of undermining national security, conspiring to seize power and creating an extremist group, on Sept. 6, 2021 in Minsk.
