Belarusian Dissent: Detained Teachers and the Crackdown on Adukavanka

Dozens of Belarusian teachers have been detained or interrogated by authorities as part of a crackdown on dissent. The Adukavanka online teacher-education project, labeled extremist by the KGB, is at the center of these moves. The crackdown on opposition has intensified since President Lukashenko's disputed 2020 reelection.

Belarusian authorities have detained or interrogated dozens of teachers amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent, according to Viasna, a respected local human rights group. Spokesman Pavel Sapelka told The Associated Press that the detentions, which began in September, target teachers involved in the Adukavanka online education project. The KGB, Belarus' primary security agency, classified the project as extremist in August.

Adukavanka, designed to guide technological innovations and provide lesson plans, had garnered hundreds of teacher participants. The group urged those in Belarus to cancel their registrations via a Telegram post. 'Strong education is done with brains, not with truncheons,' the post declared.

Under President Alexander Lukashenko's three-decade rule, Belarus has systematically suppressed opposition and independent media. The crackdown drastically escalated following the disputed 2020 presidential election, which saw 65,000 arrests and widespread reports of police brutality. Prominent opposition figures are now either imprisoned or living in exile.

(With inputs from agencies.)