Hanna Liubakova

Journalist

Hanna Liubakova is a journalist from Belarus. She started her career at the only independent Belarusian TV channel Belsat where she worked as a correspondent and presenter. Hanna reported from various countries and regions, including Belgium, UK, Poland, France, and Chechnya. She was a recipient of Vaclav Havel Journalism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Czechia, as well as World Press Institute Fellowship in the United States. Hanna works as a trainer and mentor in the Transitions Solutions Journalism Programme in CEE.

Flowers and firearms. Belarusians are united against police violence

What started as a post-election protest has become the popular uprising against longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko. In the last week, Belarus has seen some of the most extreme police violence in its modern history. First during the street clashes, when police have used live ammunition and firearms against demonstrators. Then as accounts spread of chilling […]

Lukashenko may be announced the winner. But his victory won’t last long

The outcome won’t be any different. But the people of Belarus have already shown they want change. In the past weeks and months, Belarus has seen some of the most unusual scenes in its history. Kilometres-long lines of people waiting to leave signatures in support of their candidates. Thousands gathered in provincial towns, where protests […]

Dismissed as ‘poor thing,’ she gathered the largest rally in a decade. In Belarus, Lukashenko faces a female challenge

The Viasna human rights centre said at least 63,000 supporters of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya turned up for the rally, making it the most massive political demonstration in the past decade and recent Belarusian history. The rally came as Belarus authorities accused top members of the opposition of collaborating with Russian private military contractors to orchestrate mass […]

Three women against Lukashenko. Belarusians massively gathered at first rallies of unified opposition

The Belarusian opposition’s main presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held her first rally on Sunday. At least 7,500 people took to streets in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. It is an astonishing number, which perhaps surprised Tsikhanouskaya and the rest of her team. When she came on stage and saw the crowds, she broke into tears. […]

Belarus bans two opposition candidates from running in elections. People are fighting back

More than 250 people were detained in violent clashes in Minsk and other cities across Belarus, according to the Interior Ministry. It started with an elusive message posted on several Telegram channels: “Let’s meet tonight on our cities’ main squares.” There was no previous organisation or mobilisation, and no additional information was given. But hundreds […]

Why Belarusians do not love Lukashenko anymore

Anger has reached some of the smallest towns across Belarus. So has violence, unseen here before. As Belarusians feel they are the majority, the president is creating a powder keg. Hantsavichy, a small town in the Brest region, had never seen a political protest before. But it was the local police brutality that shocked local […]

Prague startup employs homeless people as tour guides and wants to change society

Despite being often regarded as poverty tourism, the social enterprise Pragulic employs homeless people to show the Czech capital through their eyes – and gets them needed help. He emerges from a rear entrance of Praha-Smíchov, a railway station located well outside the city centre. By most measures, he is nondescript: a middle-age man in […]

How the Amazon region, hardest-hit by coronavirus, resumed lessons with classrooms closed

Aula em Casa is a television programme that reaches 450,000 students in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The project has recently expanded into other states of São Paulo, Sergipe and Espírito Santo, which means it brings its content to millions of schoolchildren. Like millions of other students in Brazil, Pedro Henrique Oliveira Cantuario found himself […]

People with disabilities have a hard time finding a job. In Belarus, coffee is a solution

A new profession that helps earn extra money is on the rise in Belarus. So does the important message of inclusivity for people with disabilities. A video depicts a noisy group of friends entering a coffee shop. It is busy inside. A young waitress approaches a hipsterish-looking man who wants to pay his bill. She […]