A Belarusian court ordered an opposition leader jailed for 10 days on Tuesday as the government pursued a crackdown on the few figures still at large, with more mass demonstrations planned against President Alexander Lukashenko.
COUNCIL MEMBER DEMANDED ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS FREED
Siarhei Dyleuski, who has led strikes at the Minsk Tractor Factory, one of the country’s flagship industrial plants, appeared in court in a steel cage on Tuesday, a day after being arrested. The court ordered him held for 10 days while prosecutors pursue a criminal case against the opposition Coordination Council for attempting to seize power.
Another council member, Olga Kovalkova, appeared at a separate court after spending a night in jail. Kovalkova is the main representative of opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya still in Belarus. “The intimidation will not work. We will not relent,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video link with the European Parliament. “We demand all political prisoners freed. We demand to stop the violence and intimidation by the authorities.”
Tsikhanouskaya, 37, fled to Lithuania after the election her supporters say she won. A political novice, she emerged as the consensus opposition candidate after better-known figures were barred from standing, including her jailed activist husband.