Introduction
This report is a follow-up to our 2021 report titled “Lawyers Under Threat: Increasing Suppression of the Legal Profession in Belarus”. It outlines the ongoing government crackdown on opposition and critical voices in Belarus in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections through mid-August 2022, including on lawyers defending opposition figures, protestors, and those who speak out about the rule of law, the administration of justice, and human rights. The report uses various public case studies to illustrate the harassment, intimidation, hindrance, and interference inflicted upon lawyers in Belarus following the contested August 2020 election of President Alexander Lukashenko. The public cases described in this report3 not only illustrate the impact of the government crackdown on individual lawyers but also reveal a concerning and ongoing trend of interference with the independence of the legal profession in Belarus that has continued up to the present. These cases also demonstrate the systematic violation of Belarusian lawyers’ human rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association.