“For the last few years I have been living with the awareness that I could be targeted at any moment,” Diana says. “It’s not a pleasant feeling. At first I had attacks of paranoia.”
It is three years since Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka launched a campaign of unprecedented political repression that has seen tens of thousands of people subjected to administrative arrests, criminal prosecution, and various forms of torture and abuse. Between 200,000 and 500,000 people emigrated.
Diana, however, is not one of them. Having actively supported the mass protests against the Belarusian government and Lukashenka that took place in 2020, she knows she is at risk. Yet Diana, a 40-year-old worker in the arts, chose to stay in her country.
