The State Prosecutor's office regularly warns newspapers about criticizing the Lukashenka government. The government has also banned advertisements by state-owned enterprises in independent publications, making it much more difficult for such newspapers to meet the costs of publishing. Stremkovskaya, the president of the Human Rights Center in Minsk, estimates that ten percent of all residents of Belarus are under criminal investigation. This surge is not the result of increased criminal activity, but of an increase in government harassment. Legally sanctioned demonstrations by opponents of the Lukashenka regime occur monthly, in spite of police beatings and the detention of many participants after the conclusion of the rallies.
Demonstrators employ banned Belarusian national symbols in imaginative ways.
Both Pastukhov and Stremkovskaya believe that the Belarusian people, with assistance from fellow democrats, can end the Lukashenka dictatorship and win back their democracy. Inc. All Rights Reserved.