Larysa Shchyrakova
Larysa Shchyrakova is a journalist who was detained on the evening of December 6, 2022, following a search of her home. On the same day, her son was taken to a shelter. On September 11, 2025, it became known that she had been taken to Lithuania.
I am, thanks to God, the Universe, and good people, once again a free person and finally have the opportunity to take charge of my own life. And this is an exciting and moving feeling. Of course, it is difficult to start life anew at 52 in a foreign country, but many doors have been opened to me — again, thanks to kind people — and I look to the future with excitement and hope. I was deprived of my home; physically I am not in Belarus, but my thoughts remain there — with my family, my friends, my people. And I truly hope that I will be able to return there soon.
But everything is in God’s hands.
