In the latest edition of “The Human Rights Defenders Podcast”, Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) interviewed Victoria Fedorova, Chairperson of the Legal Initiative, an NGO based in Minsk, Belarus. Fedorova spoke about how Lukashenko’s refusal to respond to the COVID crisis in its early months (calling it a “psychosis”), undermined the public’s trust in him ahead of the elections and made civil society organizations stronger as they were left to coordinate a response on their own. She also explored other successes the Belarussian pro-democracy movement has experienced so far, despite President Lukashenko’s violent crackdown.

Listen to the full episode here.