[ad_1]
Maria Kalesnikava, one of many final core protest leaders left in Belarus, was detained at the border with Ukraine, Belarusian authorities mentioned, a day after her colleagues mentioned she was kidnapped in Minsk throughout a renewed crackdown on antigovernment demonstrators.
Ms. Kalesnikava has been one of many principal figures behind monthlong mass demonstrations following the disputed election of longtime chief Alexander Lukashenko. Most different opposition leaders have been compelled to flee Belarus underneath the specter of arrest, because the protests have mushroomed into the most important problem to Mr. Lukashenko’s 26-year reign.
A vocal critic of Mr. Lukashenko, Ms. Kalesnikava has been lacking since early Monday when an opposition council mentioned that she and two different activists had been kidnapped by unknown individuals within the heart of the Belarusian capital.
However, the Belarus State Border Committee mentioned Tuesday that Ms. Kalesnikava was detained whereas making an attempt to cross in a single day into neighboring Ukraine together with her two colleagues, who have been allowed to go by. The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service confirmed that the 2 others have been in Ukraine, whereas Ms. Kalesnikava hadn’t entered the nation.
The opposition’s Coordination Council, a panel shaped within the wake of August’s election, mentioned it nonetheless didn’t know the whereabouts of its three members.
“We can confirm the fact that earlier Maria Kalesnikava was not planning to voluntarily leave Belarus,” the council mentioned.
Opposition chief Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled Belarus for neighboring Lithuania shortly after the election, known as for Ms. Kalesnikava’s fast launch.
“You can’t hold people hostage,” she mentioned. “By kidnapping people in the middle of the day, Lukashenko demonstrates his weakness and fear.”
The experiences of Ms. Kalesnikava’s alleged abduction Monday drew condemnation from the European Union.
Her detention comes amid fears that the federal government is stepping up its efforts to crack down on protests.
On Sunday, tens of hundreds of individuals marched in Minsk, demanding that Mr. Lukashenko step down. Security forces detained 633 protesters, Belarusian authorities mentioned.
More than 7,000 individuals have been detained for protesting after the Aug. 9 election, although almost all have been subsequently launched. Human-rights researchers mentioned they’d documented greater than 500 circumstances of individuals being crushed and tortured whereas detained by safety forces or in detention facilities.
Since then, authorities have employed much less violent, however extra targeted strategies, focusing on main opposition members.
Several members of the Coordination Council have been detained, whereas Nobel Literature Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich has been summoned for questioning. Another council member, Olga Kovalkova, was compelled to go away for Poland over the weekend, the opposition physique mentioned.
— Valentina Ochirova in Moscow contributed to this text.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at [email protected]
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink