The new organization, reports the Right to Defense project, was created because "dozens of lawyers who were illegally denied the right to practice in their country continue to work as human rights lawyers."

In particular, they "lead cases in international bodies, provide legal assistance and legal opinions, provide public legal comments and remain professionals responsible for fulfilling the mission of a lawyer."

The goals and objectives of the association are: representation before foreign colleagues, joint discussion of common problems and the search for their solutions, assistance to colleagues in Belarus, building up of "professional competencies" and maintaining high standards of the profession, which, as noted in the release, "in the future can become the basis for democratic reforms of the bar in Belarus".

Systematic pressure on the legal profession began after the 2020 presidential elections.

Since the beginning of 2021, the Ministry of Justice has revoked the licenses of at least 60 lawyers.

, a well-known lawyer who has been deprived of a lawyer's license, previously reported with

reference to his data in September 2022.

The institute has actually lost its independent status by law: from 2021, lawyers can work only in legal consultations, the heads of which are appointed in agreement with the Ministry of Justice.

In 2022, the powers of the leaders were expanded.

Criminal cases were instituted against a number of lawyers on political grounds, six lawyers were recognized as political prisoners.

On April 10, lawyer Alyaksandr Danilevich was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in a penal colony under enhanced security.

The lawyer was charged under Part 1 of Art.

3614 ("facilitation of extremist activities"), Part 3, Art.

361 ("calls for restrictive measures (sanctions), other actions aimed at harming national security").

On April 21, 2022, Alexander Lukashenko stated that "the legal profession must be under control" and "act according to the law, not some invented norms - freedom of speech and other freedoms."

In the monthly report (December 2021) of the human rights center "Viasna" on the situation with human rights in Belarus, it was noted that the right to a fair trial and protection is violated in the country, one of the manifestations of which human rights activists consider "persecution of lawyers in the form of suspension of licenses, disciplinary "penalties in the form of exclusion from the bar association".

Human rights defenders consider the dismissal of lawyers as an example of "impermissible interference of the executive authorities in the activities of the independent bar."