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“The Attorney General of Belarus sent a request to the Attorney General of Lithuania to extradite Sviatlan Cichanouskaya to be prosecuted for crimes against the rule of law, public and state security,” the prosecution said in a statement.
The Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office states that it cannot comment on whether it has received such a request from Belarus.
“The Prosecutor’s Office cannot comment on requests for international legal assistance submitted by foreign states, as this is the principle of cooperation between states. Only the State, the institution that initiated such a request, can comment on the presentation or non-presentation of such requests for legal assistance, ”Elena Martinonienė, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, told BNS.
S. Cichanouskaja withdrew to Lithuania after the August 9 elections last year, which were announced by authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko. His children were taken to Lithuania before the elections.
The opposition and Western democracies claim that the presidential elections in Belarus were rigged. Since the elections, Belarus has been plagued by massive protests by opposition supporters, which the regime is trying to put down with harsh measures.
Law enforcement forces loyal to the regime state that they have received “information that people in the immediate vicinity of S. Cichanouskaya are preparing for massive disturbances and occupation of state institutions in the Gomel area.”
Cichanouskaya emphasized that she had always advocated for peaceful methods.
“During the pre-election program and during the protests that lasted several months after the elections, Sviatlan Cichanouskaya’s team communicated and continues to communicate with many Belarusians.” Some of them have always been and still are focused on radical measures, but Sviatlana Cichanouskaya it has never been involved in the development of such plans, “she said in a comment to her office.
Foreign Minister Gabriel Landsberg responded to the request of the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office.
“Lithuania has been and will be a masonry wall in which all democratic forces persecuted by the regimes will find refuge. Therefore, all those who have found asylum in Lithuania can feel confident that they will not be handed over to the regimes, not even by their fight for democracy, not for freedom of speech or religion. And we can tell the Belarusian regime that hell will freeze over before we consider their demands, “Landsbergis said in a statement.
