Name: Is Dad still alive? The fear facing Belarusian families in exile | DW Reporter
Uploaded: 2026-03-10T17:15:15.000Z
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Imagine being a teenager and having 20 armed men storm into your room just because you posted a TikTok video criticizing the government.

They beat me, they kicked me with their combat boots.

Or sending telegram messages about police violence and winding up in a prison camp.

Or having to flee your homeland as a child because your parents were jailed as enemies of the state after fighting for democracy.

For my dad to come back healthy and unharmed.

In Belarus, one of Europe's most repressive countries.

These things can happen to those who speak out against the regime.

My mum was in prison for nearly five years and my dad is still in jail.

Nasty and her brother Vanya now live in Warsaw.

Their parents were both active in the Belarusian opposition movement and were arrested during the 2020 presidential election campaign.

Fearing the children would be sent to an orphanage, their grandmother fled with them across the border to Poland.

Their mother, Antonina, was released a year ago and was able to join the children in Warsaw.

When they were reunited, the children took a while to recognize her.

During the years in the jail, she was only allowed to talk to them once a month for five minutes.

I didn't recognize her at first because the only contact we'd had was video calls.

Then I cried with happiness and with sadness at what we'd gone through in those years.

Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist.

Political opposition and free media are systematically suppressed and opponents are jailed.

During the 2020 presidential elections, Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya ran against Lukashenko.

Independent election observers believed her to be in the lead, but Lukashenko officially declared himself the winner.

Allegations of massive election fraud were followed by nationwide protests which were brutally suppressed by security forces.

Antonina was also arrested after supporting Tsikhanovskaya in the election campaign.

She was classified an extremist and sent to a women's prison camp in Gomel.

But there were moments when I had to cry.

It was awful to think they equated me with terrorists.

In prison camps, political prisoners are subject to specially strict rules.

There are reports of torture, extortion and mistreatment.

The children's father has been in a penal colony for more than five years.

They say phone calls are forbidden and and letters never arrive.

The children cling on to the fading memories of their father.

I've completely forgotten the sound of his voice.

Sometimes I have this nightmare that they could come and kill my dad at any moment, any second, even any millisecond.

Warsaw has become a hub for exiled opponents of the regime in Minsk.

After the mass protests of 2020 were violently suppressed, around 350,000 Belarusians fled across the border to Poland into the European Union.

And the Belarusian government is still persecuting its critics.

According to the Vasna Human Rights center, there are currently around 1200 political prisoners in Belarus.

Many arrive in Warsaw with nothing but a backpack.

Anna from the Belarusian Solidarity center shows us how the organization offers practical help.

This is our boutique where our political prisoners can pick out some clothes.

Oleg Dobrydnov is among those being helped by the Solidarity Center.

At the age of 16, he was sent to a juvenile prison camp for three years after he posted TikTok videos critical of the government.

He wasn't allowed visitors and even spent 130 days in solitary confinement.

There were orders that I should be beaten for my political views.

Sometimes they beat me three times a day with a stick, with their hands, their feet.

The first thing he did was dye his hair pink.

He wanted to be free, to be able to look different without it being dangerous.

How are you now compared to when you first came here?

I know I can always get help here if I have worries.

Through the Solidarity Center, Oleg is also receiving therapy.

And here in Poland, he is free from political repression.

Opposition politician Svetlana Cichanowskaya is working to free more people jailed by the regime.

Since 2020, she's been representing Belarus Democratic Movement from exile and pressing for the release of politics political prisoners like Antagnina.

She also mobilizes support further afield in places like Berlin and Brussels, and

wants to keep putting pressure on Lukashenko until systematic political change becomes possible.

it's huge work, you know, from democratic forces, our human rights defenders, diplomats, our civil society.

Not to let the world forget about political prisoners and do everything possible to release them.

But what is more important, that the repressions will end.

Here at the Belarusian Youth center in Warsaw, Tikhanowska and others are writing letters to prisoners.

Whether they'll reach the intended recipients is uncertain.

But Antonina, who was jailed for supporting Tsikhanovskaya in the election campaign, received a postcard from the politician that gave her strength during a difficult time.

I kept your card throughout my entire time in prison.

Tikhanoskaya's husband, Serhiy, was also imprisoned for more than five years.

For two of those years, there was no sign he was alive.

When he was released, he was barely recognizable.

It was even difficult for me to recognize my husband, though I knew that people are losing weight in prisons, that people look differently.

But my daughter, she just was really stuck.

In December 2025, the Lukashenko regime released 123 political prisoners as part of a deal with the Trump administration.

Western sanctions had been imposed on Belarus in response to human rights violations, as well as President Lukashenko's support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

Alexei was one of the prisoners who was released.

Like many others, he was taken to Poland.

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Is Dad still alive? The fear facing Belarusian families in exile | DW Reporter

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