Belarus intensifies crackdown after mammoth demonstration
- Authorities step up arrests as protests against ‘Europe’s last dictator’ Lukashenko’s disputed re-election enter third week
- Nobel Literature Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich summoned for questioning over ties to opposition
Belarusian authorities stepped up arrests of political opponents and strike leaders on Monday, after Sunday saw the latest unprecedented demonstration against President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election.
While the protest movement against Lukashenko’s 26-year reign entered its third week, the man known as “Europe’s last dictator” responded with fresh rhetoric and martial imagery.
Most prominently, Nobel Literature Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich was summoned for questioning over her ties to the opposition.
Alexievich, who won the Nobel Prize in 2015, has supported opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and is a member of the Coordination Council set up by her allies to oversee a peaceful transition of power, although the 72-year-old writer has not attended its sessions.
The Investigative Committee summoned Alexievich for questioning on Wednesday as a witness in an ongoing criminal probe into the council’s creation, focusing on alleged calls to seize power.