Belarus opposition figure 'tore passport to pieces' to avoid expulsion
10 September, 2020
Authorities in Belarus tried to forcibly expel leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from the united states but she tore up her passport in defiance and jumped out a car window to remain, her allies said Tuesday.
Kolesnikova, among the last of the figures still in the country leading mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, was detained at the border early Tuesday after going missing Monday.
Border officials said she have been trying to flee the united states but two colleagues with her who crossed into Ukraine said she had resisted the expulsion.
At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the press secretary of the opposition's Coordination Council, Anton Rodnenkov, and its own executive secretary Ivan Kravtsov described a dramatic group of events as the three were taken to the border.
Rodnenkov and Kravtsov said these were seized in Minsk as they were on the way to Kolesnikova's flat on Monday following reports of her abduction.
Moved between various buildings with their hands tied and bags over their heads, both men were interrogated, threatened with legal action and finally offered the opportunity to leave the united states alongside Kolesnikova, Kravtsov said.
"What they were considering was getting Maria Kolesnikova outside the country. They said this was necessary to de-escalate the problem in Belarus," Kravtsov said.
'Kidnapping in broad daylight'
The three were eventually taken in a car to the buffer zone between the two countries' borders.
"It had been clear that she had been taken by force, she was resisting. She was pushed in to the back seat, she yelled that she wasn't going anywhere," Rodnenkov said.
"She tore up her passport into small pieces," then went the car window and walked back to the Belarusian border, Rodnenkov said.
Kolesnikova played a significant role in the campaign of opposition applicant Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory over President Alexander Lukashenko in a disputed election last month.
She has since spoken at huge protests against his rule.
Police said Kolesnikova had been held on Tuesday as they investigated the events at the border.
Tikhanovskaya needed her ally to be immediately freed.
"By kidnapping persons in broad daylight, Lukashenko is showing his weakness and fear," she said in a statement from Lithuania, where she's taken refuge.
Kolesnikova went missing on Monday, witnesses saying she have been bundled right into a minibus on the street in Minsk.
One of the strongest opposition speakers, she had insisted she would not leave Belarus voluntarily.
Lukashenko, within an interview with Russian media, claimed Kolesnikova and her companions "were fleeing to Ukraine" and said the guards "detained her as was required".
"The people in the automobile hit the gas. And she was apparently trashed of the car since it was moving," he said.
He said he'd not speak to the Coordination Council because he did not know the members or recognise them as opposition.
'Russia will be next'
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saluted the "courage" of Kolesnikova and warned that Western nations were considering new sanctions on Belarus.
"We remind the Belarusian authorities of their responsibility to guarantee the safety of Ms. Kolesnikova and those unjustly detained," Pompeo said.
France's foreign ministry also condemned "the arbitrary arrests" and the practice of forcing opposition leaders into exile.
However the strongman himself told tv set channels: "If Lukashenko collapses today the whole system would collapse and Belarus would collapse subsequently.
"If Belarus falls, Russia will be next," he added.
The Coordination Council was set up to ensure a peaceful transfer of power after Tikhanovskaya rejected Lukashenko's claim to have won the August 9 presidential election with 80 percent of the vote.
The authorities have tried to avoid the Council from working by detaining activists and forcing them to leave the united states.
Kolesnikova, 38, may be the only one of the trio of women who fronted Tikhanovskaya's campaign still in Belarus.
Tikhanovskaya left the united states under pressure from the authorities and was granted refuge in EU member state Lithuania. Her other campaign partner, Veronika Tsepkalo, is currently in Ukraine.
Police in Belarus have already been intensifying their crackdown on the opposition, with an increase of than 600 persons arrested on Sunday at the latest huge weekend protest against Lukashenko.
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