Tsikhanouskaya says around 800 political prisoners remain in Belarus Belarusian opposition leader @Tsihanouskaya said that around 800 political prisoners are currently believed to remain behind bars in Belarus, though the real number may be significantly higher. Responding to my question about how many Belarusian political prisoners are still held in prisons inside Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya said many arrests remain undocumented because people are afraid to contact human rights organizations. “As far as we know, around 800 political prisoners remain in Belarusian prisons today, but I am convinced the real number is much higher. People are arrested every day, and many are so terrified that they do not even turn to human rights organizations to have these cases documented,” she said. She thanked the US President Trump's Special Envoy for Belarus @johnpcoale, for his efforts to secure the release of political prisoners and noted that about 500 people have already been released, with some deported from Belarus. Tsikhanouskaya stressed, however, that the Lukashenko regime treats prisoner releases as a political bargaining tool rather than a humanitarian gesture. “For Lukashenko, these releases are not an act of humanity. This is human trafficking. He wants to sell people at a higher price,” she said. @franakviacorka, thank you for the chance to ask a question.

Last week, the 2026 Belarus Coordination Council @rada_vision election successfully took place amid multiple coordinated attacks. Even as 24B malicious requests and 68TB of attack traffic attempted to silence participation, Vocdoni and Society22 helped keep the vote online, censorship-resistant, and end-to-end verifiable. Because in moments like this, voting is not only about casting a ballot. It is about defending the right to participate, resisting disruption, and producing a result that anyone can audit and trust. Learn more in our full blog post: blog.vocdoni.io/how-vocdoni-…

At the Freedom House 2026 Awards in Washington, D.C. yesterday, I attended the event where @RosaMariaPaya was honored with the Alfred Moses Liberty Award in recognition of her courageous advocacy for freedom and democratic change in Cuba. #FreedomHouse85 Her speech was powerful and deeply moving: “Today, let the world know this: the struggle for Cuba’s freedom is more alive than ever.” Inspiring to witness voices like hers standing firmly for freedom — and reminding us why this fight matters. It also leaves a feeling that change in Cuba may come even sooner than in Belarus.