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They were masked, wearing civilian clothes and were dragging Maria Kolesnikova into a Sobol minibus. Yesterday morning, Maria Kolesnikova, the most prominent leader of the Belarusian opposition who was still in the country, was abducted in the center of Minsk.
A few minutes earlier, he told a journalist by phone that he was going to pick up a package from the post office that had been sent to him by the KGB State Security Service. Former flute and cultural director Kolesnikova was one of the closest sympathizers of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya in the Belarusian presidential election campaign. The 38-year-old, who had previously lived in Germany for several years, is a member of the coordinating council of the protest movement against the controversial electoral victory of the head of state Alexander Lukashenko.
“You can’t stop us”
“The state power is organizing terror,” Tichanovskaya commented yesterday on the events of his exile in Lithuania. In addition to Kolesnikowa, Ivan Kravtsov, secretary of the Coordination Council, and his press spokesman Anton Rodnenkow were also kidnapped. Tichanovskaya said the kidnappings were another attempt to stop the Coordination Council’s work and intimidate its members. “But the authorities are wrong when they think they can arrest us.”
The day before, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians again protested against the dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk and other cities, the security forces, but also plainclothes thugs, repressed the protesters, and according to the police, there were 633 arrests.
Alexander Urban, another Minsk opposition spokesman, said security forces were tightening their procedures, mainly wanting to remove the leaders and coordinators of the protests. “We hope, however, that the kidnapped people will quickly reappear and that Maria will be deported abroad, like Olga Kowalkowa.” Olga Kowalkowa, also a member of the Cooperation Council, was arrested in August and ended up in Poland after her release.
He said yesterday that reprisals against the Coordination Department were useless, the citizens took to the streets alone. “Until the state complies with its demands.”
A blacklist of opposition members, including Maria Kolesnikova and her comrades who disappeared yesterday, has been posted on the HaraKiri Telegram channel, which is considered the spokesperson for the KGB. “You will not be forgotten,” HaraKiri threatens. “And when the blood flows, they will lift you up.” Kolesnikova’s cell phone was on yesterday but it didn’t work.
Article of
Stefan scholl
