Last year, it took a rigged election to prevent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya becoming president of Belarus.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Serge Serebro
Since then, the country has seen mass protests, and a brutal crackdown from the authoritarian President Lukashenko.
Facing arrest herself, Ms Tsikhanouskaya had to flee Belarus with her children.
She spoke with Worldwatch's Max Towle.
