The Belarusian opposition party Tichanovskaya spoke for the first time from exile in Lithuania. She makes it clear to President Lukashenko that he will not be able to calm down the freedom movement this time. In a possible new election, however, she does not want to run again.
In the opinion of the opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya, the Belarusian population will not agree to a compromise as long as the authoritarian ruling head of state Alexander Lukashenko remains in office. The Belarusians would “never” accept Lukashenko as president, Tichanovskaya said at her first press conference since she fled to Lithuania. The Belarusians wanted a political change. Lukashenko, meanwhile, accused other countries of being behind the mass protests in his country.
“I hope that common sense will prevail and that the people’s call will be heard so that there can be new elections,” said Tichanovskaya. The people of Belarus would “never forgive and never forget” the violence they experienced. All Belarusians lived in fear. “But we have to overcome all our fears and take further steps,” demanded the opposition politician.
Tichanovskaya announced that he would no longer run in a possible new election. “I do not plan to go into the race myself,” said the Tass agency. Her husband is not interested either. The former English teacher ran for her husband after the anti-government blogger was arrested in May. At the beginning of the week Tichanovskaya had signaled her readiness to take power.
Lukashenko continues to accuse foreign countries
Since the controversial presidential election on August 9, there have been mass protests in Belarus against Lukashenko, who, according to the official election results, was re-elected with 80 percent of the votes. The protest movement accuses the head of state, who has been in authoritarian rule for 26 years, of massive electoral fraud.
The security forces used some violence against the demonstrators. Thousands of people were temporarily arrested. Many reported torture and ill-treatment in police custody after they were released. Three people died during the protests. Last week, EU foreign ministers launched new sanctions against the Belarusian leadership because of the violence against peaceful demonstrators. The EU did not recognize Lukashenko’s election victory.
Also on Friday, thousands of people protested against the government in the capital Minsk. The demonstrators formed a human chain between the memorial to the victims of Stalinism and the Okrestina prison, where many opposition activists are imprisoned. They held up flags, flowers and pictures of injured government critics.
Lukashenko said he wanted to resolve the political crisis in his country “in the coming days”. He accused the US of “planning and paying for” the demonstrations in Belarus. The Europeans would “play the game”. The aim of the West is to turn Belarus into a “buffer zone” between the Baltic states and Russia.
Opposition fights for the election to be canceled
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, who on Thursday stressed the “need for change” in his country, appealed to his European counterparts on Friday not to impose sanctions. “We are in a difficult situation at the moment, but which country has not gone through painful periods of national development?” He wrote in a letter to the EU foreign ministers. His government could not allow “actions that damage the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus”.
The Belarusian judiciary launched a criminal investigation on Thursday against the Coordination Council established by the opposition, which is supposed to achieve a peaceful change of political leadership in Belarus. According to the authorities, the council is violating the constitution. On Friday the lawyer Maxim Snak, who is a member of the council, was questioned by the authorities in Minsk. For his part, Snak submitted a motion to the Supreme Court to cancel the presidential election, Tichanowskaja’s spokeswoman Anna Krasoulina announced.
The EU condemned the judicial actions of the authorities in Belarus. The investigation against the coordination council would have to be closed, said a spokeswoman for the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell. She accused the government in Minsk of “intimidating” its critics.
The United Nations also expressed “serious concern” on Friday at the ongoing detention of more than a hundred demonstrators. The authorities must “immediately” release all people who have been “illegally or arbitrarily detained,” said a spokeswoman for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
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