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“With great concern for Ms. Kolesnikowa” – Maas asks for clarification
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Belarus: Opposition leader apparently kidnapped
Anna Kolesnikova, one of the main opposition leaders, is said to have been dragged into a minibus by strangers in the center of Minsk. Police have yet to comment on this.
Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova is missing. There is talk of arrest or kidnapping. Presidential candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya speaks of “acts of terrorism”. Sheiko Maas demands her release.
reBelarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova has disappeared, according to media reports. The website tut.by reported on Monday that she had been arrested in central Minsk by unidentified people. Russia’s RIA news agency reported that Belarusian police are checking whether Kolesnikova has been abducted. According to a witness, strangers pushed Kolesnikova into a minibus and abducted him on Monday morning. The Belarusian Opposition Council said it had been informed that Kolesnikova had been arrested, the RIA reported. “Bild” reported that Kolesnikowa had been arrested.
Federal Chancellor Heiko Maas (SPD) asked for an explanation on the whereabouts and release of Kolesnikowa and other political prisoners. “We are very concerned about Ms. Kolesnikowa,” Maas told the “Bild” newspaper on Monday. “The continuous arrests and repressions, also and especially against the members of the Coordination Council, are unacceptable.”
According to the dpa news agency, there is no trace of Kolesnikowa. Colleagues have no contact with her, the press service of the coordination council of the democracy movement in Minsk said on Monday. Furthermore, her employee Ivan Kravzov and her spokesman Anton Rodnenkow are no longer available. The report of the minibus in which Kolesnikova was taken was not confirmed by the Coordination Council.
Presidential candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, spoke of “acts of terrorism” in a statement to WELT. The 37-year-old man described the disappearance of the opposition as an “attempt to disrupt the work of the coordinating council.”
Kolesnikova, 38, is one of the most important members of the opposition opposing the authoritarian head of state Alexander Lukashenko. Some members of the corps had already been detained, abandoned or forced to leave, including Tichanovaskaya. But that won’t stop the council, he told WELT. “The work of the Coordination Council will continue. We are committed to a peaceful solution to the crisis. “
Observers believe Tichanovskaya won the Belarusian presidential election. However, incumbent Lukashenko claims to have received more than 80 percent of the vote, his opponent is said to have only got ten percent. For the opposition and most of the people who have been taking to the streets in Belarusian cities for weeks against the Lukashenko regime, however, she is the rightful president. “The more they try to intimidate us, the more people will join the protests,” Tichanowsjaka told WELT. He called for “the immediate release of all political prisoners and the beginning of a dialogue that will lead to free and fair elections in Belarus.”
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius blamed the Minsk government for Kolesnikova’s disappearance without a trace. “The abduction of M. Kolesnikova in the center of Minsk is a disgrace,” Linkevicius wrote on Twitter. “Instead of talking to the people of Belarus, the outgoing leadership is cynically trying to eliminate one by one.” This is reminiscent of Stalinist methods.
Kolesnikova works for former bank director Viktor Babariko, who wanted to run for president. She is also on the Presidium of the Coordination Council, which seeks a peaceful change of power. Kolesnikowa had lived in Stuttgart for many years and managed cultural projects from there. Kolesnikova repeatedly appeared at protests and was cheered on by protesters. She marched with the large rally on Sunday in Minsk.
Regarding the mass protests in Belarus, Maas said: “Anyone who sees the images of the peaceful demonstrations in Minsk cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the people are demanding a change in policy and leadership.”
The German government is working “at full speed” in the EU on a package of sanctions against the government in Minsk, added the foreign minister. “We have repeatedly asked Mr. Lukashenko to enter into dialogue with all national forces. That did not happen, on the contrary: one wave of repression after another advances towards the opposition willing to dialogue. That is the wrong direction. ” If Lukashenko did not change course, the EU would react.
