The Berlin Wall may have come down more than three decades ago, signalling the end of the Soviet empire. Yet in one corner of eastern Europe, communist-style dictatorship lingers on. Governed by its authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, Belarus is a land where liberal democracy and basic human rights have been forgotten. In its savage contempt for freedom and under its megalomaniacal leadership, this is a grim relic of Soviet rule which risks becoming the continent's own version of the North Korean regime. A chilling insight into Lukashenko's reckless tyranny has been provided this week by the detention of one of his foremost critics, the blogger and journalist Roman Protasevich – provoking a storm of international outrage.