Clampdown in Belarus
Belarus’s machinery of repression has shifted into overdrive since the country’s contested August 2020 re-election of President Lukashenka, who had already served more than 26 years.
Immediately after the election, security forces detained thousands of people, tortured or otherwise mistreated many of them, and made them stand trial on criminal charges.
Since then, authorities have shut down any form of dissent with iron-fisted repression. Government critics have been forced into exile or thrown behind bars, and the number of political prisoners in the country has swelled to more than 1,300.
Systematic Crackdown
A new Human Rights Watch report shows it isn’t just protesters and critics facing the ire of Belarusian authorities. Those who step up to defend them in court are also being targeted in the government’s ruthless crackdown.
“These days, a defense lawyer understands that by defending political prisoners they are not only potentially losing the right to exercise their profession, but can also lose their freedom,” one lawyer told us.
Going after someone’s lawyer doesn’t just undermine the lawyer’s work or the legal profession in general (which it certainly does), it also further isolates their clients, people who are being unjustly prosecuted for exercising their rights and freedoms.
By the time we launched our report, very few, if any, lawyers in Belarus were even willing to take on political prisoners out of fear of also being harassed or ending up in jail themselves.
Since September 2020, authorities have arbitrarily arrested at least 23 lawyers, then used the arrest as a pretext to stop them from representing their clients in politically motivated cases and to revoke their licenses.
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The Rule of Law
Targeting the lawyers of people facing politically motivated prosecutions means that in Belarus, the right to a fair trial and due process is off the table.
As long as the government’s crackdown on free expression – and the defense of it – continues, it appears almost no one is safe in Belarus.
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Instrutor in iLAB//HAITI
9moHello there! How are you? first of all I'm sorry for disturbing you if I do. My name is Johnson. I'm Haitian and I think you might be aware of what is currently going on in the country. the reason of this email is my family and I we facing a Awful situation in Dominican Republic and despite Haiti our Country facing a crisis where Gangs rules over the Capital in some other places in the Country we prefer to go back live there than facing the mistreatment in Dominican Republic the President who's allowed corps and immigration agents to steal, abuse our wife and children has been re- elected for 4 years more we have no other choice to go back. For that we bow ourselves to the ground to ask for charity help so we get back to our beloved country despite all and when we get there I can start a business to take care of my family we don't know if you will help us or not as a saying said it's. better to try not doing nothing. Thank you for reading this God Bless you. Best regards, Johnson's Family.
Coordinator Al bawani
9mo1. معاشی صورتحال پاکستان کی معیشت کو حالیہ برسوں میں کئی چیلنجز کا سامنا ہے، جن میں: بڑھتا ہوا قرضہ: پاکستان پر بین الاقوامی قرضے کا بوجھ بڑھ رہا ہے، جس کی وجہ سے معیشت پر دباؤ ہے۔ مہنگائی: اشیاء خورد و نوش اور دیگر ضروریات کی قیمتوں میں تیزی سے اضافہ ہو رہا ہے۔ بیرونی سرمایہ کاری: سرمایہ کاری میں کمی آئی ہے، حالانکہ چین کے ساتھ CPEC منصوبہ ایک اہم پہلو ہے۔ خلاصہ پاکستان کے موجودہ حالات مختلف پہلوؤں سے چیلنجنگ ہیں، لیکن ان میں مواقع بھی موجود ہیں۔ پاکستان کے لئے ضروری ہے کہ وہ داخلی استحکام، معاشی ترقی، اور بین الاقوامی تعلقات میں توازن پیدا کرے تاکہ وہ عالمی منظرنامے میں اپنا مقام بہتر کر سکے۔ 4o
ICT medewerker bij FOD Justitie | Certified Google IT Support | IBM Technical Support | Healthcare IT Support Specialist
9moWhy did you call Lukashenka a "President"? A President can only be an elected one.