The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports that the lawyer has been arrested by the secret service. “Because they are often people in civilian clothes, you don’t know where they belong. But there is indeed a good chance that it is the secret service,” says Godfroid.
Belarusian police say they know nothing about an arrest. “They say that constantly when arrested. Until it really is no longer possible,” said the correspondent.
Lot last member
Five of the seven members of the Coordination Council have now been arrested or forced to leave the country. Thus became opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova arrested yesterday after she refused to leave Belarus. Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov have probably been forcibly expelled and are staying in Ukraine. Two others were arrested at the end of August.
Writer and Nobel laureate Svetlana Aleksyevich remains the only member. According to Godfroid, she plays a small role in the organization, partly because of health problems. “I don’t think she’s at risk. She’s well known internationally. They probably won’t risk keeping her.” Until recently she lived in Berlin and Warsaw because of her critical attitude towards Lukashenko.
Alexeyevich has issued a statement. “First our country was kidnapped, now the best of us are being kidnapped,” she writes. She also appeals to the Russian intellectual elite to finally speak up about the crisis in Belarus.
Alexeievich has to local journalists let it be known that strangers tried to enter her apartment this morning. Also Kolesnikova’s house would are searched.
Paper tiger
The Coordination Council has been of little use, says Godfroid: “They never managed to govern because the members were arrested from the start. It was a paper tiger.”
In Belarus there are mass demonstrations against the outcome of the presidential elections on 9 August. According to the official results, President Lukashenko won, but the opposition speaks of large-scale fraud and is calling for new elections.
In confrontations between protesters and the police, dozens of activists have been arrested again in recent days. They demonstrated, among other things, against the arrest of an opposition member Kolesnikova. Last Sunday a few hundred protesters were arrested during massive demonstrations against President Lukashenko in all major cities in the country.
According to the Interior Ministry, 121 people were arrested yesterday in several protests in Belarus.
The arrests do not go smoothly everywhere, as can be seen in the images below:
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