Svetlana Alexievich: Nobel lauerate leaves Belarus for Germany

Prominent Belarusian opposition figure Svetlana Alexievich left the country for Germany on Monday, her aides told various news agencies.

Alexievich was the last member of Belarus’ opposition movement’s leadership to remain free in the country,

The 72-year-old, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, is said to have left on a flight by Belarusian airline Belavia en route to Berlin.

Mass protests have swept Belarus ever since President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office after August elections. The opposition says the vote was rigged.

Belarusian authorities have launched a brutal crackdown, arresting members of the opposition as well as demonstrators.

Alexievich was the only member of the opposition coordination council’s presidium — set up by exiled opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya — who was not either in jail or forced to flee abroad.

She had not escaped the attention of authorities. In late August, she was called in for questioning on as part of a criminal probe into an opposition council.

“There are no longer any of my like-minded friends in the coordination council’s presidium,” she said in a statement earlier this month.

Read more: Belarus: High-profile opposition figures arrested in ‘security’ probe

kmm/rt (dpa, Reuters)

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