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PoliticsBelarus

Guardians of Truth

January 27, 2023

From homemaker to presidential candidate, in Belarus. In this documentary, Turkish journalist Can Dündar meets Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:

https://p.dw.com/p/4Licf
DW Dokumentationen | Kampf um Wahrheit
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Trailer: Can Dündar meets Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

A woman who unexpectedly finds herself fighting for her country’s freedom, from exile.

Can Dündar, türkischer Journalist
Image: Axel Warnstedt/DW

In Erdoğan’s Turkey, Can Dündar has been regarded as ‘Public Enemy No. 1’ ever since he exposed illegal arms shipments by the Turkish government to Syria back in 2015. The President personally described the journalist as a terrorist and called for him to be locked up for life. As the trial got underway, Can Dündar survived an assassination attempt and fled to Germany. Since then, he’s been working to defend his homeland against the autocrat’s lies and speak out in favor of truth and freedom.

Belarus-politics-CZECH-BELARUS-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Image: Roman Vondrous/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Dündar meets a woman with a mission not of her choosing. In the year 2020, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s husband Sergej advanced from blogger to presidential candidate against the dictator Lukashenko. But like all opponents deemed to be potentially dangerous, he was jailed. In a spontaneous move, his wife Sviatlana submitted her own candidacy for the post - and was permitted to run. The dictator didn’t see her as a threat - but  Tsikhanouskaya and her team captured the hearts of the people and her popularity levels soared.

Weißrussland Wahlen Proteste Polizei
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Gapon

When election day came and Lukashenko claimed victory with an alleged 80 per cent of the vote, hundreds of thousands of people cried fraud and took to the streets in protest. Tsikhanouskaya a received death threats and was forced into exile.

 

Karlspreis-Verleihung in Aachen
Image: Bernd Thissen/dpa/picture alliance

But her fight against the dictator Lukashenko continues - from Lithuania Tsikhanouskaya has been received by world leaders and showered with awards. Can Dündar accompanies her on her travels and experiences her struggle to secure freedom for political prisoners, including her husband Sergej. Dündar experiences a woman who, to this day, doesn’t feel totally at ease in her role. How can someone who never wanted power be a leader?

Broadcasting Hours: 

DW English

SAT 18.02.2023 – 11:03 UTC
SAT 18.02.2023 – 22:03 UTC
SUN 19.02.2023 – 05:03 UTC

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