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There is still no trace of the well-known Belarusian activist Kolesnikowa. The opposition views the alleged kidnapping as an attempt to intimidate the government and is combative.
By Martha Wilczynski, ARD Studio Moscow
On Sunday, Maria Kolesnikova was still at the heart of the matter, unmistakably with her platinum blonde, short hair, and bright red lipstick that is so typical of her. Surrounded by thousands of protesters, she sang and danced in the center of Minsk.
No sign of her on Monday. “We have just realized that Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council Presidium, has been abducted by strangers in the center of Minsk,” said Pawel Latuschko, a member of the Opposition-established Coordination Council Presidium, at a conference of press in Warsaw. “She is lost.”
According to a witness, Kolesnikova was dragged into a minibus that morning and taken away. Since then, she has not been contacted or her two employees, who have also disappeared. The members of the Coordination Council initially assumed an arrest. The Belarusian Interior Ministry and the Minsk police denied it. Not even the state investigation committee knows anything on its own.
The last to stay in the country
Kolesnikova is the last of the three women to lead the opposition movement that is still in the country. Her comrades in arms, Veronika Tsepkalo and Lukashenko’s rival, Svetlana Tichanovskaya, had to leave Belarus, in part due to massive pressure from the authorities. At yesterday’s rally in Minsk, Kolesnikowa spoke to the team in German ARD stresses that “naturally” he wants to stay in Belarus.
Currently three of the seven members of the Presidium of the Coordinating Council are abroad, two are behind bars. When the body, which advocates for a peaceful transfer of power in Belarus, was founded, the head of state Alexander Lukashenko accused the members of attempting an illegal seizure of power. The Attorney General’s Office initiated a criminal process.
Protests continue
Kolesnikova’s disappearance is now another attempt to intimidate the democracy movement, critics say. Opposition leader Tichanovskaya also spoke in writing: The regime is practicing terror. But the more the rulers tried to intimidate the people, the more they took to the streets.
Meanwhile, protests continue across the country, particularly in universities. On Sunday, more than 100,000 people demonstrated against what they believed to be a sham election four weeks ago. According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, there have been more than 600 arrests.
