Larysa Shchyrakova, Author at Index on Censorship

Larysa Shchyrakova

Larysa Shchyrakova is a Belarusian freelance journalist and former political prisoner. She spent nearly three years in detention on charges of discrediting the Republic of Belarus and facilitating extremist activity. She was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Four months before the end of her term, she was pardoned by Alyaksandr Lukashenka and deported to Lithuania

Stripped of her home: The Belarusian political prisoner pardoned by Lukashenka

by Larysa Shchyrakova | 29 Apr 2026

Journalist Larysa Shchyrakova was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony for discrediting the Republic of Belarus. She tells her story here

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