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Belarusian Presidential Elections 2020
image copyrightReuters
A detained Belarusian opposition leader has said she was in fear for her life when security officers threw a bag over her head during an attempt to deport her.
Through her lawyer, Maria Kolesnikova said that they forced her into a van and told her that if she did not leave voluntarily they would take her out “alive or in pieces”.
He is now seeking a criminal case against Belarusian security forces, including the KGB, his lawyer said.
Mass unrest has gripped Belarus since the disputed elections last month.
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What is happening in Belarus?
- ‘Breathing freedom’: Belarusians hope for change
- Why Poland supports the opposition in Belarus
Ms. Kolesnikova is one of three women who joined forces to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in the August elections. She is the last of three women to remain inside Belarus after she resisted attempts to forcibly deport her to Ukraine earlier this week.
The main opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, says she won between 60 and 70% of the elections in places where votes were properly counted. She fled to Lithuania after being arrested in August.
What did Kolesnikova say?
In a statement presented by her lawyer, she said masked men had forced her into the van on Monday in the capital Minsk.
“It was said that if I did not voluntarily leave the Republic of Belarus, they would take me out anyway, alive or in pieces. There were also threats to imprison me for up to 25 years.”
His attorney said his client was in a “good mood.”
What about other opposition figures?
The other two women who joined forces with Ms. Kolesnikova to challenge Lukashenko, Veronika Tsepkalo and presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, left the country shortly after the elections.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has offered Ms Tikhanovskaya a house in the country’s capital Warsaw.
She is the last prominent member of the Opposition Coordination Council who is still in Belarus and who has not been detained.
On Wednesday, witnesses reportedly saw Maxim Znak, a lawyer and another member of the Coordination Council, being herded down a street in the capital by masked men in plain clothes.
Belarusian authorities said that both he and Ms. Kolesnikova were being detained on suspicion of damaging national security and destabilizing the country.
What’s the latest from Lukashenko?
During the inauguration of a new chief prosecutor on Thursday, the president maintained his legitimacy as leader.
image copyrightfake images“People often reproach me: ‘He will not give up power.’ They are right to reproach me. People didn’t choose me for this, “he said.
“Power is not given to be taken, thrown away and given away.”
The president, in power since 1994, said Belarus could not return to the instability of the years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
