Avrupa Times, Turkish British news for the Turkish Community in the world

Unidentified masked men have detained a leading opposition figure in Belarus

WORLD

Witnesses reportedly saw Maria Kolesnikova being bundled into a minibus in Minsk and driven away.

She was one of three women who joined forces ahead of August's presidential election to challenge incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. Mass unrest has followed his re-election amid allegations of vote-rigging. The interior ministry said it detained 633 people on Sunday after a fourth consecutive weekend of protests. At least four people have died and hundreds have been injured as authorities have tried to crush dissent in the country.

EU leaders do not recognise the results of the election and have agreed to impose sanctions on Belarus.
But Mr Lukashenko - who has been in power since 1994 - has blamed Western nations for interfering in his country. On Monday, the Kremlin announced he would visit Moscow for talks "in the coming days". Russia is a close ally of Mr Lukashenko's.

Sitemizden en iyi şekilde faydalanmanız için çerezler kullanılmaktadır.