Freed Belarus dissident rebuilds life in exile

Earlier this year opposition activist Antanina Kanavalava was scrambling across a frozen river on the Belarusian border, determined to escape and see her children again after more than four years behind bars.

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Eight months later, holding hands with her 11-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, walking with them for their first day back in school in Warsaw, she is living the life Belarus did not want her to have - a small act of defiance against her “tormentors”, she said.

She is one of thousands of Belarusians detained and jailed since 2020, when President Alexander Lukashenko launched a major crackdown against dissent following his reelection.

Like Kanavalava, many are now embarking on the difficult process of rebuilding their lives outside Belarus - a journey that is fraught with highs and lows.

“My children can now say that they have a mother, and that their mother picks them up from school,” she said.