The leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, defied President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday, claiming that the Belarusian people do not“will never accept more” his leadership, while the government launched legal proceedings against the opposition.
“The president should know by now that we need a change”Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told reporters in Vilnius in her first speech since taking refuge in Lithuania on August 11. The Belarusian people “will never accept the current leadership again”, she assured.
The opponent, who claims victory in the presidential election of August 9 and denounces fraud, “hopes that common sense wins, that people will be heard and that there will be new elections”.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya clarified that she will return to Belarus when she “will feel safe”, as Belarusian authorities on Thursday initiated proceedings for “attack on national security” against the “coordination council” formed by the opposition to promote political transition after the August 9 election.
The opposition rejects the results of the presidential election which gives Mr. Lukashenko the winner with 80% of the vote.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who faces daily protests and a strike movement triggered by the opposition, assured Friday that he would “solve the problem”. “This is my problem, which I have to solve and we solve it. And believe me, in the days to come it will be solved”, he added, quoted by the public news agency Belta.
However, for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old English teacher, new to politics, who upset the presidential campaign in Belarus by gathering unprecedented crowds at its meetings and by obtaining the support of other opponents, the Belarusians “will never be able to forgive and forget all the violence of which they have been the target”.
A little nervous, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya refused to answer questions about her own safety. “As for the threats, I would prefer not to address this issue at this time”, she said in English.
“Fear and Lies”
“Everyone is afraid today in our country, but it is our mission to overcome this fear and move forward”, a souligné Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa.
The EU rejected the presidential results on Wednesday and pledged additional sanctions against Belarusian officials behind “violence, repression and electoral fraud”.
Asked about Russian support for Lukashenko, Tikhanovskaya replied: “I call on all countries of the world to respect the sovereignty of Belarus”.
The attitude of Russia, Belarus’ closest ally and economic partner, will be essential to the end of the crisis. Moscow has so far mainly warned against any “foreign interference” in the “internal affairs” of his neighbor.
“We no longer want to live in fear and lies”, Tikhanovskaya said, calling on the striking workers to consult with the coordination council set up to organize the protests.
“The creation of the coordination council aims to negotiate a smooth handover of power”, asserted the opponent.
The authorities are now attacking the “advice” formed as a continuation of the historic protest movement demanding the departure of Alexander Lukashenko.
A member of the council, lawyer Maxim Znak, presented himself to authorities in Minsk on Friday morning for questioning. “All for one and one for all!”, exclaimed protesters upon his arrival.
This “advice” has already been vigorously denounced by the Belarusian President who sees it as an attempt to “seize power” and threatened to “cool some hotheads” within it.
“Intimidation”
The European Union on Friday denounced the prosecution of the Belarusian authorities against the “coordination council” formed by the opposition, calling this attitude“intimidation”.
By responding to the constitution of this council by opening a criminal procedure, “Belarusian state authorities have once again reverted to politically motivated intimidation”, said a spokesperson for the EU’s external services, Nabila Massrali.
“We call on the Belarusian authorities to end this investigation and to resume dialogue in order to find a solution to this crisis”, she added in a statement.
The UN said “extremely concerned” by the fate of a hundred demonstrators arrested, although thousands more were released.
“We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all those who have been arbitrarily or unlawfully arrested”, said Elizabeth Throssel, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
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