Belarus summons Nobel prize winner soon after Minsk mass rally

Law enforcement in Belarus have summoned Nobel prize winner Svetlana Alexievich for questioning around a prison situation versus a new opposition council.

The council, established by exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was set up right after the disputed election previously this month.

Ms Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel prize for literature, is a member.

The shift arrives a working day just after more than 100,000 people today rallied towards President Alexander Lukashenko.

Two opposition figures had been also detained on Monday. Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky ended up picked up outside the house the Minsk Tractor Factory, wherever staff are concerned in an anti-Lukashenko strike.

Opposition leader Ms Tikhanovskaya is in Lithuania, which is now in a diplomatic row with Belarus.

Lithuania’s foreign ministry states it summoned the Belarus ambassador on Monday to protest in excess of a violation of its airspace. It alleges that a Belarusian military services Mi-24 helicopter crossed the border on Sunday evening in purchase to burst 8 balloons.

An graphic posted on Twitter exhibits a large pink-and-white balloon – the colours of the flags paraded at opposition demonstrations.

In accordance to the Belarusian defence ministry, the balloons had been “anti-point out symbols” and “thanks to the crews of Mi-24 helicopters the balloons’ flight was intercepted without recourse to weapons”. The “provocation” happened at about 19:30 (16:30 GMT) in Ashmyany district.

In solidarity with the Belarus opposition on Sunday persons linked hands in Lithuania to kind a human chain from the money, Vilnius, to the Belarusian border.

Tensions remain substantial in Minsk, amid prevalent anger above Mr Lukashenko’s landslide 9 August re-election, which the opposition and several governments denounced as fraudulent.

There is also fury more than police brutality – a lot of protesters accuse the police of unprovoked beatings and torture through the crackdown.

On Sunday, Mr Lukashenko was filmed in overcome gear and carrying an assault rifle, praising his stability forces near the presidential palace. He has denounced protesters as “rats” or “Nazis”.

The opposition now suggests a strike leader at a potash fertiliser plant, Anatoly Bokan, has also been detained.

Very last week the chief prosecutor released a legal investigation into the 35-member co-ordination council, accusing it of striving to seize electric power. A number of users of the council are described to have resigned as a result. Not all council associates are in Belarus.

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Belarus – the standard specifics

Where by is Belarus? It has Russia – the previous dominant electrical power – to the east and Ukraine to the south. To the north and west lie EU and Nato associates Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Why does it issue? Like Ukraine, this nation of 9.5 million is caught in rivalry involving the West and Russia. President Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, has been referred to as “Europe’s final dictator”. He has been in electrical power for 26 many years, retaining much of the economic system in state palms, and working with censorship and police crackdowns in opposition to opponents.

What’s likely on there? Now there is a substantial opposition movement, demanding new, democratic leadership and financial reform. Mr Lukashenko’s supporters say his toughness has kept the region stable.