April 27, 2025

Belarusian Repression Hits a New Low


Belarusian Repression Hits a New Low
The architecture of the Belarusian state house contributes to mental well-being. The Russian Life files

According to a UN report, at least 33 Belarusian dissidents have been forced to undergo psychological treatment since 2020. Of the 33, eight have been released, with 25 unaccounted for, cut off from all communication with the outside world.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of victims because of extreme secrecy surrounding these prisoners.

The UN release relays that the findings were uncovered by independent human rights experts, who are concerned that the forced psychological treatment breaches international human rights law. Reportedly, the oldest person receiving this treatment is 77.

The details of this revelation are likely tied to the protests that rocked the Belarusian capital in 2020. Longstanding President Alexander Lukashenko won reelection with more than 80 percent of the vote, extending a tenure that began in 1994 (and continues; in 2025 Lukashenko won 86 percent of votes). Pro-democracy demonstrators accused authorities of election fraud. In response, the government cracked down, convicting more than 3,200 people.

Protesters were arrested under criminal codes forbidding protesting, insulting the president or other member of the government, and the promotion of "terrorist activities."

Like Russia, Belarus has also seen a tightening of civil liberties in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine. President Lukashenko remains a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

You Might Also Like

No Laughing Matter
  • January 28, 2025

No Laughing Matter

A Belarusian comedian has been labeled an "extremist" in his home country.
Belarus Bans Emigrant Connections
  • January 06, 2025

Belarus Bans Emigrant Connections

The Belarusian government has listed a handful of Telegram chats used by Belarusian emigrants living in Warsaw as "extremist materials."
Tinder Breaks Up with Belarus
  • January 25, 2024

Tinder Breaks Up with Belarus

Tinder and other dating apps will exit the Belarussian market after Valentine's Day. How will Belarus find love?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955