The Belarusian Nobel Prize winner is attended by Swedish diplomats – VG

On Wednesday, rumors circulated on social media and newspapers that well-known author Svetlana Alexeyevich (72) had been kidnapped.

She was not, but after masked men tried to break into her home, she is now being tended to by Swedish diplomats, she writes Today news.

Now there is a press release from Alexeyevich himself.

“There are no more like-minded friends left in the leadership of the Coordination Council. They are all in prison or deported abroad. Today they took the last one, Maxim Znak,” he writes in the message.

New kidnapping

Of the original seven members of the opposition coordinating council, now only the 72-year-old known author remains.

On Wednesday, Belarusian opposition politician and lawyer Maxim Znak was taken by surprise in Minsk and abducted by masked men in plain clothes, sources close to Znak told the news agency. Interfax.

The kidnapping is part of a series of brutal incidents involving members of the Belarus Coordinating Council for Opposition.

“The country rebelled”

The Coordination Council has been working to achieve a peaceful transition to a new government in Belarus, since longtime President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the supreme winner of the August 9 elections.

The opposition claims that the election it was neither free nor fair supported, among others, by the EU.

The disappearance of lawyer Znak is similar to what happened to opposition colleague Maria Kolesnikova earlier this week. She was kidnapped and tried to cross the border into Ukraine.

Alexeyevich expresses great sadness about the situation in his home country in the press release.

“First they kidnapped our country, they kidnapped the best. But instead of those ripped from our ranks, hundreds of new ones will come. It was not the coordinating committee that rebelled. The country rebelled. I want to repeat what I always say. We don’t prepare for a coup. We wanted to avoid division in our country. «, Writes the Nobel Prize winner.

Helsinki Committee: unacceptable

In Norway, among others, the Helsinki Committee reacts strongly to what has happened.

– A pattern has formed. Release Znak immediately !, demands the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in a Twitter -Message.

– The arrests of the leaders of the Coordination Council are unacceptable and represent clear violations of human rights. They are kidnapped, arrested and forced to leave the country by masked men, while no one knows where they are or where they are, writes Acting Secretary General Gunnar Ekeløve-Slydal at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee to NTB.

From his apartment in Minsk, the last remaining member of the Coordinating Council, Alexeyevich, will continue the fight, even though the 72-year-old has health problems.

“People go out with their young children because they think they want to win. And I will tell my people that I love them. I am proud of them. “concludes the press release.