Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova greets her arrival for questioning at the Investigation Committee in Minsk, Belarus, on August 27, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS).
Police in Belarus have been stepping up their crackdown on the opposition, with more than 600 people arrested Sunday in the last major weekend protest against Lukashenko.
- AFP
- Last update: September 9, 2020 7:56 AM IST
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Belarusian authorities tried to forcibly expel the main opposition figure, Maria Kolesnikova, from the country, but she tore her passport in defiance and jumped out of a car window to stay, her allies said Tuesday.
Kolesnikova, one of the last figures still in the country leading mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, was detained at the border early Tuesday after disappearing Monday.
Border officials said she had been trying to flee the country, but two colleagues with her who crossed into Ukraine said she had resisted removal.
At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the press secretary of the Opposition Coordination Council, Anton Rodnenkov, and his executive secretary, Ivan Kravtsov, described a dramatic series of events when the three were brought to the border. .
Rodnenkov and Kravtsov said they were detained in Minsk on their way to Kolesnikova’s apartment on Monday following reports of her abduction.
Moved between several buildings with their hands tied and bags over their heads, the two men were interrogated, threatened with legal action and finally offered the opportunity to leave the country together with Kolesnikova, Kravtsov said.
“What they were interested in was getting Maria Kolesnikova out of the country. They said this was necessary to reduce the situation in Belarus,” Kravtsov said.
‘Kidnapping in broad daylight’
Finally, the three were taken in a car to the buffer zone between the borders of the two countries. “It was clear that they were taking her by force, that she was resisting. They pushed her into the back seat and she screamed that she was not going anywhere,” Rodnenkov said.
“He tore his passport into small pieces,” then went out the car window and headed back to the Belarusian border, Rodnenkov said.
Kolesnikova played an important role in the campaign of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory over President Alexander Lukashenko in a disputed election last month.
Since then, he has spoken out in large protests against his government. Police said Kolesnikova was detained on Tuesday while they investigated the events at the border.
Tikhanovskaya called for his ally to be released immediately. “By kidnapping people in broad daylight, Lukashenko is showing his weakness and fear,” he said in a statement from Lithuania, where he has taken refuge.
Kolesnikova disappeared on Monday and witnesses said she had been put into a minibus on the street in Minsk. One of the strongest speakers in the opposition, she had insisted that she would not leave Belarus voluntarily.
Lukashenko, in an interview with the Russian media, claimed that Kolesnikova and her companions “were fleeing to Ukraine” and said that the guards “detained her as necessary”.
“People in the car hit the gas. And apparently she was thrown out of the car as it was moving,” he said. She said that she would not speak with the Coordination Council because she did not know the members or recognize them as opponents.
‘Russia will be next’
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hailed Kolesnikova’s “courage” and warned that Western nations were considering new sanctions on Belarus. “We remind the Belarusian authorities of their responsibility to ensure the safety of Ms. Kolesnikova and all those unjustly detained,” Pompeo said.
The French Foreign Ministry also condemned “arbitrary arrests” and the practice of forcing opposition leaders into exile. But the strongman himself told TV channels: “If Lukashenko collapses today, the whole system would collapse and Belarus would collapse in turn. If Belarus falls, Russia will be next,” he added.
The Coordination Council was created to ensure a peaceful transfer of power after Tikhanovskaya rejected Lukashenko’s claim to have won the August 9 presidential election with 80 percent of the vote.
The authorities have tried to prevent the Council from functioning by detaining activists and forcing them to leave the country. Kolesnikova, 38, is the only one of the trio of women who spearheaded the Tikhanovskaya campaign who is still in Belarus.
Tikhanovskaya left the country under pressure from the authorities and was granted refuge in Lithuania, a member state of the EU. Her other campaign partner, Veronika Tsepkalo, is now in Ukraine.
Police in Belarus have been stepping up their crackdown on the opposition, with more than 600 people arrested Sunday in the last major weekend protest against Lukashenko.
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