Commentary
Society
Wounds That Won’t Heal: Trauma, Power and Politics in Slovakia – COMMENTARY
16 May 2025
Almost three years have passed since Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s last contested re-election. Political opponents and peaceful protesters continue to be repressed to this day. Under the guise of fighting “extremism”, authorities have virtually purged civil society of all dissenting elements – a survival strategy that further isolates the regime from the West.
Against the backdrop of Russia’s full-fledged war against Ukraine, the continuous erosion of Belarus’s human rights situation has fallen below the radar of media attention.
Yet, the crackdown on widespread protests, which made the headlines following Lukashenka’s sixth election victory on 9 August 2020, is still in evidence.
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