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Tuesday, September 08, 2020
The alleged kidnapping of the Belarusian opposition leader Kolesnikova causes horror around the world. Her colleagues have not had contact with her for hours. Border guards have now announced that they are in custody.
According to the authorities, the Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova has been detained on the border with Ukraine. Belarusian border protection authorities said they tried to cross the border at night. Two other members of the opposition coordinating council accompanying Kolesnikowa had managed to cross the border. “Kolesnikova is currently in custody,” a border guard spokesman said.
The opposition had no information on Kolesnikova’s whereabouts that morning. This was announced by the coordinating council of the democratic movement to which it belongs. It is also unknown where her colleague Ivan Kravzov and her spokesman Anton Rodnenkow are. “We can only confirm the fact that Maria Kolesnikova did not want to leave Belarus voluntarily.”
According to border guards, the two men left Belarus for neighboring Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the Ukrainian side. Earlier it was reported that the three had gone to Ukraine. Information provided by the authorities cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook about an attempted deportation. “Maria Kolesnikova could not be deported from Belarus because this brave woman made her deportation across the border impossible for her actions.” The media wrote, citing unspecified sources, that the opposition party should have broken their passports.
Kolesnikova is one of the main leaders of the protests against the autocratic head of state Alexander Lukashenko. The 38-year-old woman disappeared Monday, her whereabouts initially unclear. The coordinating council created by the Belarusian opposition had announced that he had been “kidnapped by strangers in the center of Minsk” together with a spokesperson and an employee. His disappearance and more than 630 arrests during renewed mass protests against Lukashenko over the weekend caused international outrage. The government has been cracking down on the Coordination Council for days and has arrested several members. The Council wants to achieve a peaceful transfer of power through dialogue.
The Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, and the representative of EU Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, demanded clarification from the Belarusian authorities on Monday about the whereabouts of the opposition members and their release.
Since the controversial presidential elections on August 9, people in Belarus have been demonstrating against Lukashenko, who has ruled authoritarianly for 26 years. They accuse the government of massive fraud in the elections, which, according to official information, Lukashenko won with 80 percent of the vote. They are not deterred by the violence of the security forces.
