Belarusian journalist Alena Dubovik, a single mother of three living in Lithuania, is facing an expensive court case due to a dispute with her former landlord. She needs support to defend herself and avoid falling into debt.
My name is Alena Dubovik. I am a Belarusian journalist and a mother of three children (13, 11, and 9 years old). For almost five years now, I have been living in exile in Lithuania and raising my children on my own. It is difficult and demanding, but all these years I have managed as best as I could.
Until the summer of 2021, I worked as a journalist for Belsat in Belarus. It was a job under constant pressure, surveillance, and threats. In August 2020, I was detained by security forces and spent three days in Okrestina detention center, where I was beaten. After my release, I was hospitalized with a bruised bladder and microhematuria (blood in my urine). I spent six days in the hospital.
Logically, I could have left journalism after that. But what I saw in Okrestina and later in the emergency hospital – where people beaten by security forces were being treated – did not allow me to remain silent. I returned to work.
On September 6, while covering a women’s protest march, I was violently detained again. There were more detentions, threats, and constant fear. I understood that at any moment I could end up in prison, but I stayed in Belarus as long as I could. In the summer of 2021, after publishing an investigation into illegal and large-scale logging in Belarusian forests, the choice became stark: leave or go to prison.
I took my children and left. First to Georgia, and then to Lithuania. I left Belarus thinking it would be for three months. I arrived in Lithuania with just two suitcases.
Nearly five years have passed. The number of suitcases has grown, but the longing to return home has not disappeared.
My children live with me. Their father, my ex-husband, remained in Belarus. Unfortunately, 2020 showed us that we were too different, and I could not stay in that marriage.
All these years I have paid for everything myself: rent, utilities, school expenses, food, clothing, medical care. I live paycheck to paycheck. I have never had savings, but until now I managed somehow.
For the past three years, my children and I rented a two-room apartment in Vilnius. The lease was renewed annually. There were no conflicts or complaints from the landlords. I paid rent and utilities on time, kept the apartment clean, and we had normal relations.
In the summer of 2025, Lithuanian friends unexpectedly offered me the chance to move into a private house that had become available. I needed to decide quickly.
I honestly asked my landlords whether they would object to my leaving. They said they would not. The apartment was accepted, and we signed a handover document. It listed certain defects – for example, cracked faux-leather bed upholstery and scratches on the laminate flooring. I considered this normal wear and tear after three years of living there with children. Before us, the apartment had also been rented out. It was ordinary housing, not in perfect condition from the start.
Two days after we moved out, the landlord sent me a renovation estimate for €4284. It included, among other things: “purchase of kitchen chairs, kitchen countertop, a bedroom bed, removal of flooring in rooms, installation of laminate, priming, plastering and painting walls, delivery of construction materials, transport costs.” (This document is available with BYSOL.)
My €500 security deposit was also not returned. The stated reason was that I had not given sufficient notice – although my departure had been discussed and no objections were raised.
When I refused to pay such an amount, the landlord called and asked how much I could pay – “at least two thousand?” Then he said something that still echoes in my head: “You’re a refugee, alone with children in a foreign country. We’ll go to court – you don’t need those problems.”
Yes, I am a refugee, alone with children in a foreign country. But that does not mean I am ready to be pressured, intimidated, or forced to pay unjustified money. I refused to pay anything beyond the utilities for the final month. After that, I was sued.
To defend myself, I have already paid €700 for a lawyer from my own funds.
Next come either further legal expenses – or the risk of debt and enforcement proceedings. According to my Lithuanian lawyer, the court case may cost me around €4000–5000. I want the chance to defend myself, challenge an unfair claim, or at least minimize the consequences and avoid being burdened with overwhelming debt.
I urgently need your support. Please help me raise funds for legal expenses so I can protect myself and my children, avoid falling into debt, and keep some stability beneath our feet in this situation.
Fundraising goal
€5000
This amount will cover legal defense costs in Lithuania in such cases:
– Lawyer’s work
– Preparation and submission of legal documents
– Representation in court hearings
– Related court expenses