Jana Paliashchuk

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Lukashenka’s election plan is to shut down the internet – again - Index on Censorship

Jan 22, 2025 | indexoncensorship.org | Jana Paliashchuk

Belarusians began 2025 in a state of anxiety. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before – another presidential “election” is approaching, or rather, another dictatorial re-election. There hasn’t been a free and fair electoral process in our country for decades, so it’s not as though we don’t already know the outcome: over 80% for Lukashenka, written in by the Central Electoral Committee. The atmosphere is tense.
Mackenzie Argent

Dec 19, 2024 | journals.sagepub.com | Mackenzie Argent |Jana Paliashchuk

MACKENZIE ARGENT talks to Belarusian dissident JANA PALIASHCHUK about turning lemons to lemonade through her poetryFOR 30 YEARS, Belarus has suffered under the rule of “Europe’s last dictator”, Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Many Belarusians have never known life outside of his regime, and with reports of voter suppression and Russian interference in elections earlier this year, the upcoming January 2025 presidential poll offers little hope of anything different.
Encouraging signs on freedom of expression after Starmer's first week

Jul 12, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Sally Gimson |Martin Bright |Daisy Ruddock |Jana Paliashchuk

It’s been a hectic week in British politics after a Labour government was elected in a landslide last week. There are reported to be 30 new bills which will be announced in the King’s speech as part of the state opening of parliament next Tuesday. As our CEO Jemimah Steinfeld indicated in last week’s newsletter, we at Index are keeping a beady eye on how much new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government will prioritise freedom of expression at home and abroad.
Exhibition about Russian political prisoners cancelled over Israel-Gaza row

Jul 12, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Martin Bright |Daisy Ruddock |Jana Paliashchuk |Jemimah Steinfeld

An exhibition of art by Pomidor, founded by Polina Egorushkina and Maria Sarkisyants in 2018, has been cancelled in east LondonA Russian art collective which was due to open a show in London highlighting the plight of opponents of the Putin regime claim their exhibition was cancelled at the last minute because one of them was Israeli.
Fears mount over health of Azerbaijani political prisoner

Jul 11, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Daisy Ruddock |Jana Paliashchuk |Jemimah Steinfeld

Last month, Ibad Bayramov – son of renowned economist and activist Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu – received a letter from a cardiologist based in the USA warning of an “imminent threat” to his father’s life. “The cardiologist has recommended that my father has an aortic root aneurysm and must go under surgery as soon as possible,” Bayramov told Index.
Lukashenka unexpectedly releases political prisoners

Jul 5, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Jana Paliashchuk |Jemimah Steinfeld |Daisy Ruddock |Martin Bright

In a rare piece of good news from Belarus, it has been revealed that the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who was re-elected as president for the sixth time in 2020 after a disputed election, has released at least 16 political prisoners on health grounds. On 2 July, Lukashenka said, “Do not be surprised if, in a few days, very seriously ill people will be released, who did not manage to escape and are in prisons, who were breaking and destroying the country in 2020.
Julian Assange released: What now?

Jul 2, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Martin Bright |Ella Edwards |Mark Stimpson |Jana Paliashchuk

Index on Censorship has had a close relationship with Julian Assange since he picked up our new media award in 2008 for his work with Wikileaks due to our shared concern for freedom of expression. We were therefore pleased to hear the news that he was finally able to be reunited with his family in Australia after five years in London’s Belmarsh Prison and seven years in hiding at the Ecuadorian embassy (pictured above).
Has Russian disinformation caused Europe’s lurch to the right?

Jun 28, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Ella Edwards |Mark Stimpson |Jana Paliashchuk

While the outcome of the 2024 election is yet to be finalised, results at the time of writing show that Eurosceptic conservatives are on course to win an extra 14 seats (taking them to 83), while right-wing nationalists will gain nine seats (to 58). Overall, the right, including centre-right politicians of the European People’s Party grouping, has done well, largely at the expense of the liberal and green party groupings.
A chilling update from Belarus

Jun 25, 2024 | indexoncensorship.org | Jana Paliashchuk

As Belarus approaches the 30th anniversary of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s autocratic rule, repression by the regime against those who stand for democracy and freedom is not getting any less severe. This summer marks three decades since Lukashenka’s first inauguration and four years since the Belarusian pro-democratic revolution erupted following his controversial 2020 presidential election win over political newbie Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.