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The Belarusian opposition has lost contact with another leading comrade. Attorney Maxim Snak had been dragged into a car by masked men and his apartment was being searched, he said.
According to his supporters, opposition lawyer Maxim Snak has been arrested by “masked men” in Belarus. As announced by the press service of the Opposition Coordination Council, Snak wanted to participate in a video conference that morning, but did not show up. An opposition spokesman told the “tut.by” website that Snak was able to tell him that masked people had come to him.
The group posted a photo of Snak being carried away by masked men. There is no official confirmation of the arrest. The lawyer was one of the last remaining members of the Coordination Council in Belarus. According to the “Sputnik Belarus” news portal, a lawyer for the opposition member announced that Snak’s apartment had been searched. The Interfax agency reported that the office of jailed opposition politician Viktor Babariko was also being searched.
On Monday, Snak’s colleague on the Coordination Council, the well-known opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, was abducted by unknown persons in Minsk, according to the opposition. Eyewitnesses yesterday reported that he had resisted deportation to Ukraine at the border. According to the Belarusian Border Guard, she is currently “in custody”.
Weber calls for EU sanctions against Lukashenko
In view of the state’s action against the democratic movement in Belarus, the chairman of the conservative EPP group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, called for swift EU sanctions against the leaders in Minsk. Europe must now agree to a sanctions list as soon as possible, which also includes President Alexander Lukashenko, said the CSU politician collectively. ARD and ZDF Morning Magazine.
But the EU must also defend itself against the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Because the real question behind the conflict after the controversial presidential elections in Belarus is “Putin’s system, which keeps the entire region in suspense and controls it” and “the question of whether the idea of freedom and democracy will spread further east. “. Weber said. “That is why we now have to think of new approaches for Russia”, for example on the issue of visa requirements for the country’s elites and new regulations in the area of money laundering, such as property speculation. A construction stop on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline or even the end of the project should also be on the table as an option.
Tichanovskaya requests the support of the Russians
Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who stood for election and now lives in exile in Lithuania, called on the Russian people to support the democratic movement in her country. The falsehoods of the Russian state media would poison the relations of closely related peoples, he said. The Russian media should honestly report why the Belarusian people oppose Lukashenko.
After the presidential elections a good four weeks ago, the head of state himself had declared the winner with more than 80 percent of the vote. However, the opposition considers Tichanovskaya, 37, to be the real winner of the elections. The vote is criticized internationally for being grossly falsified. There have been daily protests since August 9, some of which were brutal by the security forces. According to the Interior Ministry, only yesterday 121 people were arrested.
