The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of the last figures of the opposition in freedom and in Belarus, Svetlana Alexievitch, left her country to seek treatment in Germany, her entourage announced Monday (September 28th).
"In a month, she will return to Belarus. She is not giving up her activities as a member of the coordination council," the body formed by the opposition, her friend Maria Voïtechonok told AFP.
"Two months ago she was supposed to go to the doctor, but that was prevented by the coronavirus and political events."
Svetlana Alexievich is reportedly planning to travel to Italy after Germany.
A movement that has lasted since August
Svetlana Alexievich is the only one of the seven members of the leadership of the Coordination Council formed to promote a transition of power in Belarus still at large.
All the others were either arrested or forced into exile, as was the figurehead of the protest movement, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, who fled to Lithuania.
>> To read also: Belarus: three women in Lukashenko's sights
Svetlana Alexievitch, 72, had been intimidated in early September by strangers who had hung around her home calling her on the intercom and phone.
She had received the support of European diplomats, who had come to her home to support her.
Belarus has been shaken since early August by an unprecedented protest movement against the fraudulent re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994. Alexander Lukashenko has so far refused to dialogue with the opposition and the demonstrations have systematically given rise to hundreds of arrests.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of people took part in the weekly opposition rally in the streets of Minsk, like every weekend since the disputed presidential election of August 9.
With AFP
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