Almost nine months have passed since Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and human rights defender Uladzimir Labkovich were released from prison, and six months since the release and and forced deportation from the country of human rights defenders Marfa Rabkova, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Nasta Loika. In a series of interviews prepared in cooperation with the Viasna Human Rights Center, The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House and Human Rights House Foundation, the former political prisoners reflect on life in exile after unjust imprisonment, their return to professional life, and their hopes for the future. Here Marfa Rabkova [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2026/03/23/belarus-frees-250-prisoners-including-human-rights-defenders-as-us-eases-sanctions/]
When did you feel truly free again after your release?
It has been almost five months since my release, but I still have not truly felt free. I suppose freedom is a very complex and multifaceted thing. Even though I am physically free, I do not have that feeling of freedom inside me. For me, freedom is still the sum of all freedoms. And as long as people remain imprisoned, as long as repression continues in Belarus, I cannot feel free.
There is also the factor of transnational repression. There are things that stop you at a certain point. You understand that the price of any word or action can be very high, because families, loved ones, relatives and friends remain in Belarus. And this matters enormously, because it is another reason you do not feel free. You carry responsibility for so many things: not only for your loved ones, but also for those people who remain in Belarus and are in prison.
I think I will only feel free in Belarus, when the repression ends, when all political prisoners are released, and when I am surrounded by my family and friends. That is when I will finally breathe out and feel truly free.
How difficult was it for you to leave Belarus? Do you hope to return?
It was very difficult for me to leave Belarus. I would even say that for me it was a harder blow than accepting a 15-year prison sentence. At that particular moment, at that point in time and space, it was incredibly difficult. I reacted even more emotionally than I did to my sentence…..
So I believe and hope that the Universe will eventually say, “All right, that’s enough. You can breathe now. It is over. We are going home.”
Why do you continue to fight for human rights?
I continue to fight for human rights because it is already part of me, part of who I am. Wherever I am, whatever the circumstances, it just switches on naturally inside me. I do not need to direct myself somehow or force myself to do something. I do not even think about it. It is simply who I am…..
It simply cannot be any other way. It is a natural way of living, and it does not stop. You do not stop being a human rights defender, wherever you are. And now, when I see how difficult the situation is in the world and in our region, how deep the human rights crisis has become, when we are already talking about the most basic things, the unconditional right to life and the right not to be tortured… watching this regression, you realise that standing aside is simply not an option.
What gives you hope for the future?
What gives me hope for the future are moments of humanity, empathy, interaction and mutual understanding. And what impresses me most is seeing these qualities in people from whom I did not even expect them. It gives you such a powerful surge of energy, because you realise that in many people there is still a bright spark, a spark of kindness. Sometimes it is hidden or buried very deep, but it is there.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 