Belarus: Disappeared protest leader detained at Ukraine border

Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova was arrested Tuesday at the Ukraine border, state media reported.

Kolesnikova disappeared in Minsk on Monday after she was seenbeing bundled into a minibus.

Two of her aides were also seized, the opposition Coordination Council said. They were press secretary, Anton Rodnenkov, and executive secretary, Ivan Kravtsov.

The pair are now in neighboring Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian border service.

But Belarusian officials said Kolesnikova was still in Belarus, denying earlier reports that she had left the country.

“I can’t say concretely where she is, but she has been detained,” Anton Bychkovsky, a representative of the Belarusian border service, told Reuters by phone.

“She was detained in connection with the circumstances under which they (the group) left the territory of Belarus,” he said, without providing further details.

DW’s Nick Connolly in Minsk said it was difficult to verify any of the statement as “no one in the oppostion has heard from Maria Kolesnikova since her abduction on Monday morning.” However, the developments do fit a “wider picture of the government giving people an option between staying in the country and being put in prison or being forced out,” Connolly said.

Who are the opposition figures in question?

Kolesnikova is a campaign partner of opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against President Alexander Lukashenko in the August 9 presidential election.

Protesters dispute the official election results, that saw Lukashenko claim a sixth term in office. Tens of thousands of people marched against the president once again on Sunday.

Authorities arrested more than 600 people at the weekend as anti-government took place protests across the country.

EU demands release of detained proresters

On Monday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had called on authorities in Belarus to release all opposition figures and protesters.

He warned that EU would impose sanctions on “individuals responsible for violence, repression and falsification of election results.”

“It is clear that the State authorities in Belarus continue to intimidate or allow intimidation of its citizens in an increasingly lawless way and crudely violate both their own domestic laws and international obligations,” Borrell said.

EU sanctions are expected to be in place by mid-September. They will include travel bans and asset freezes.

Read more: Belarus’ Soviet-era economy still propped up by Moscow

The protests in Belarus

Protesters, human rights activists, and observers accuse Belarusian riot police of brutally suppressing peaceful marches in the former Soviet republic.

The government has denied those claims, defending its security forces.

“They talk about the cruelty of Belarusian police, and I would like to say this: there are no police anywhere in the world that are more humane (and) moderate,” Interior Minster Yuri Karayev told state television on Monday.

This is an update of an earlier version published after initial reports suggested Kolesnikova had crossed into Ukraine.

jf/rt (dpa, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-disappeared-protest-leader-detained-at-ukraine-border/a-54848387?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf