Belarus: opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya took refuge in Lithuania

Opponent and Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has taken refuge in Lithuania. REUTERS / Vasily Fedosenko

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who is contesting the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, has fled to Lithuania, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister announced on Tuesday (August 11th). 

Publicity

Read more

"  She has arrived in Lithuania and is safe,  " said Linas Linkevicius, Lithuanian Foreign Minister as protests against the victory of Belarusian president, elected for a sixth term, were dispersed by police for the second night consecutive. He provided no further details.

Lithuania, a member of the European Union and NATO, belonged to the Soviet Union. It has frequently given refuge to Belarusian and Russian opposition figures.

Since Monday evening, the whereabouts of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya remained unknown after her visit to the Election Commission for three hours to demand a new count of the votes. Linas Linkevicius then expressed his “  concern  ”, explaining to AFP: “  I tried to reach her for several hours, but we do not know where she is since she went to the Electoral Commission  ”.

This newbie in politics, main rival of Alexander Lukashenko and credited with around 10% of the vote by the Election Commission, said she considered herself victorious in the ballot. She had decided not to take part in the demonstrations to avoid "provocations".

A protester was killed Monday night in Belarus as thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in Minsk and other cities across the country to challenge the official results giving Alexander Lukashenko the winner with 80.08% of the vote for a sixth term.

►Also read: Protest in Belarus: the concern of relatives of arrested demonstrators

(With AFP)

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Belarus
  • Alexander Lukashenko

On the same subject

Belarus: mobilization of the opposition at half mast

Presidential election in Belarus: concert of critics in Europe after Lukashenko's victory