In an elegant apartment building in central Warsaw flying a red and white flag from its first floor balcony, a symbol of the Belarusian opposition, remnants of the anti-government media in Belarus are shrugging off a new wave of death threats.

Less than a year ago, Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old blogger and opponent of veteran President Alexander Lukashenko, was sitting in the same office helping livestream anti-government protests around 480 kilometers to the east, which he hoped would topple Lukashenko.

His former colleagues recall how they all worked 24/7, slept on mattresses and believed that Lukashenko's days were numbered.