Belarus opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova
'snatched from street' in Minsk
Kolesnikova on council calling for a peaceful transfer
of power amid post-election protests
Luke
Harding and agencies
Mon 7 Sep
2020 12.37 BSTFirst published on Mon 7 Sep 2020 12.03 BST
Unidentified
masked men snatched the leading Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova
from the street in the centre of the capital, Minsk, on Monday and drove her
away in a minivan, witnesses told local media.
Kolesnikova
was one of the campaign partners of the opposition candidate Svetlana
Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against the long-ruling president, Alexander
Lukashenko, in disputed elections on 9 August.
Kolesnikova
was reportedly seized soon after 10am local time while walking close to Minsk’s
national art museum. Three other members of the opposition coordination council
have also vanished, in what appears to be a targeted attempt by the authorities
to wipe out the protest movement.
Kolesnikova
is the most prominent political figure still inside Belarus.
Lukashenko’s
victory – in a poll widely seen as rigged – has sparked mass protests. On
Sunday, more than 100,000 people marched on the president’s residence, calling
on him to quit. Riot police wearing balaclavas arrested 633 people. Gangs of
pro-government thugs beat up protesters on their way home.
It is
unclear who abducted Koselnikova. Her coordination council colleagues who have
disappeared include Anton Rodnenkov, Ivan Kravtsov and Maxim Bogretsov. Her
press team is also missing.
Speaking to
the local news website Tut.by, a woman identified as Anastasia said she spotted
Kolesnikova in the street. She said she was about to go up to her and to thank
her for her work when she changed her mind, thinking Kolesnikova looked
exhausted.
She said:
“Then I noticed a dark minivan with the slogan “Svyaz” on the side parked up
not far from the museum. I carried on and then heard the sound of a telephone
falling on the tarmac. I turned round and saw people in civilian clothes and
masks dragging Maria into the van. The phone flew out of her hand. One of them
picked it up, jumped into the van and they drove off.”
Her
telephone did not answer, Tut.by reported.
Kolesnikova’s
press aide, Rodnenkov, confirmed her abduction but vanished himself around 40
minutes later, it reported. Kolesnikova’s allies said they were checking the
report of her detention. Police in Minsk were cited by Russia’s Interfax news
agency as saying they had not detained her.
Before the
election, Kolesnikova had joined forces with the opposition presidential
candidate Tikhanovskaya who later fled to Lithuania, and with Veronika
Tsepkalo, who has also since left the country. Another leading activist, Olga
Kovalkova, arrived in Poland on Saturday, saying she had been told she would
face arrest if she stayed in Belarus.
Friends of
Kolesnikova’s believe Belarus’s security forces are behind her abduction. They
suspect her fate will be similar to that of Kovalkova, who was taken from a
remand centre in Minsk by interior ministry representatives and driven into
exile. Other members of the Coordination Council may also be thrown out, they
suspect.
There was
scepticism, however, that Lukashenko’s mafia-style tactics would halt the
protests. “They are spontaneous. It’s really a grassroots thing happening in
Minsk and all over Belarus. People unite in their local communities. They start
their own Telegram chats and discuss where to march next,” one Minsk journalist
said.
The person
added: “I believe Maria’s kidnapping won’t stop the protests. It will intensify
them actually.”
Senior
Belarus opposition figures have accused the EU of failing to respond to
Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters. Andrei Sannikov, who
stood against Lukashanko in the 2010 presidential election, and was
subsequently jailed, said sanctions were urgently needed.
Earlier on
Monday, central bank figures showed Belarus had burned through nearly a sixth of
its gold and foreign exchange reserves, or $1.4bn (£1.06bn), in August, as it
fought to prop up its rouble currency during the wave of unrest.
Veronika
Tsepkalo (left), Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (centre), and Maria Kolesnikova display
their signature gestures at a press-conference in Minsk in July. Photograph:
Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA
Kolesnikova
had announced on 31 August that she was forming a new political party,
Together, with the team of jailed opposition figure Viktor Babariko with whom
she had previously worked.
Kolesnikova,
a trained flautist and music teacher, got into politics through running the
campaign of another opposition politician, the former banker Viktor Babaryko,
who attempted to stand for president against Lukashenko but was jailed and
barred from running.
When
Tikhanovskaya, an English teacher and translator with no political experience,
was unexpectedly allowed to run for president, Kolesnikova and Tsepkalo backed
her and spoke alongside her at rallies.
The women
came up with signature gestures: for Tikhanovskaya a raised fist, for
Kolesnikova a heart formed with her fingers, and for Tsepkalo a victory sign.
Kolesnikova
and other members of Babaryko’s campaign team last month announced the creation
of a new opposition party called Together.
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