Belarusian presidential candidate sends her children abroad after threats

MINSK (Reuters) – The main opposition presidential candidate in Belarus sent her children abroad to an undisclosed location in the EU after receiving threats that they would be taken from them unless she quits her career, an opposition journalist said .

Svetlana Tikhanouskaya launched her attempt to overthrow President Alexander Lukashenko in the August 9 elections after her husband, a popular anti-Lukashenko blogger, was arrested in May.

Since then, he has become Lukashenko’s main surprise rival, garnering support last week from two prominent opposition figures who were barred from appearing. On Sunday, she held her first official election campaign rally, attended by thousands of people.

“We took the children out because they really threatened her. They threatened to arrest her and take away her children, “opposition journalist Nataliya Radina said in a video posted on YouTube.

Radina said the children were abroad with their grandmother. She did not elaborate on how the children had left the country or where they had gone.

A Belarusian news portal, tut.by, quoted Tikhanouskaya as saying that her 4-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were in a “safe place.” Tikhanouskaya could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994 while tolerating little opposition, but he faces the biggest challenge in years to his authority amid anger over his recall of the COVID-19 pandemic and complaints about the economy and human rights.

Tikhanouskaya decided to flee after her husband Syarhei Tikhanouski was detained in the midst of an offensive by Lukashenko’s security forces.

Initially hesitant to stand up, she released a video in June in which, fighting tears, she said she had received an anonymous phone call threatening to take her children away unless she abandoned her campaign.

Protests in support of opposition candidates have erupted in towns and cities across the country. Hundreds of people have been detained. Lukashenko has likened protesters to criminal gangs.