[ad_1]
Exactly where he is has been unknown since Monday: Belarusian border guards have announced that opposition politician Kolesnikova has been arrested. That cannot be verified.
Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kolesnikowa has been arrested in Belarus, according to border guards. Her exact whereabouts are still unknown. She is one of the main leaders of the protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
According to the Belarusian border guards, Kolesnikova wanted to travel to Ukraine. 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.
Employee left
Kolesnikowa had arrived at a border checkpoint in a car with his colleague Ivan Kravtsov and his spokesman Anton Rodnenkow. The two men would have crossed the border. This was also confirmed by the Ukrainian side. Earlier it was reported that the three had gone to Ukraine. The Kiev government denied it.
The information provided by the Belarusian authorities cannot be independently verified. According to border guards, the arrest was made to “clarify the circumstances.” No details were given.
Tichanovskaya demands his release
There were no signs of life from Kolesnikova since Monday morning. The coordination council created by the opposition, of which Kolesnikova is a member, assumed that the politician had been kidnapped by strangers in the center of the capital, Minsk. The Interior Ministry had stated that it had not arrested the opposition.
The Council has not yet received any information on the whereabouts of Kolesnikova or her staff. “We can only confirm the fact that Maria Kolesnikova did not want to leave Belarus voluntarily,” the Coordination Council said. Kolesnikova had repeatedly reiterated this before disappearing.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tichanowskaja demanded the immediate release of her colleague from exile. “The task of the coordinating council is to be a platform for negotiations,” said the 37-year-old, who faced Lukashenko and remains in EU country Lithuania. “There is no other solution and Lukashenko has to acknowledge this.” He couldn’t just take people hostage.
Kolesnikova is the voice of the opposition
Kolesnikova, 38, works for former bank chief Viktor Babariko, who also wanted to run for president. Lukashenko had him arrested before the elections. The criminal case is considered politically motivated. Together with Babariko, Kolesnikova founded a new party. Babariko’s team said the border guard had not given a lawyer any information about the reasons or the place of the arrest.
Kolesnikova repeatedly appeared at protests and was cheered on by protesters. The background to the protests is the presidential elections of more than four weeks ago. Lukashenko was then declared the winner with 80.1 percent of the votes. However, the opposition considers Tichanovskaya to be the real winner. The vote is criticized internationally for being grossly falsified.
