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He is one of the main members of the protest movement in Belarus: lawyer Maxim Znak was arrested in Minsk. The opposition member was detained in Minsk on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for Viktor Babariko’s staff confirmed to SPIEGEL. Babariko wanted to run for the presidency of Belarus, but was not allowed to run and has been detained since June.
Like Maria Kolesnikova, who was arrested on Monday, Znak was a member of the board of directors of the “Coordination Council”, the body of the protest movement. Of the seven members of the board, only the Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich remains in the country and at large.
“Lukashenko is undoubtedly afraid of negotiations”
According to his supporters, Znak was arrested by “masked men”. On Wednesday morning he was expected at the office of the Opposition Coordination Council, but he never got there. Znak’s environment posted a photo on the Telegram online service. It shows Znak being carried away by masked men.
The coordinating council opposes authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and wants to achieve a peaceful change of power. Its central demand is dialogue with state power, scheduling new elections and releasing political prisoners. Lukashenko refuses a dialogue with the members of the corps.
Opposition Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, an EU country, condemned the actions of the authorities on social media. “The methods of so-called power are scandalous.” Znak’s disappearance, like the other cases, must be clarified immediately, he said. “Lukashenko is undoubtedly afraid of negotiations and is trying to paralyze the work of the council and intimidate its members.”
According to official information, Lukashenko received 80.1 percent of the votes in the August 9 elections and declared himself the winner. However, the vote was overshadowed by massive fakes: the EU, the US and other countries do not recognize the alleged result.
