Depleted by a wave of arrests, Belarus' opposition movement is seeking ways to regroup after week-long protests were broken up by a state apparatus determined to defend President Alexander Lukashenko.
Authorities at a detention center outside Minsk finally confirmed that they had in detention Alexander Kozulin, an opposition candidate in the March 19 presidential election, who was arrested on Saturday when security forces violently broke up a protest march, Kozulin's wife Irina said.
About 100 youths attended a vigil on Sunday evening to honor the marchers beaten by police, lighting candles at a monument to 53 young people who were crushed to death in a May 1999 stampede at a Minsk metro station.
PHOTO: AP
Lukashenko "won't last five years," said Liliya, a 21-year-old teacher, referring to the length of a presidential term. "He's only got a little while left -- he's very afraid."
The arrest of Kozulin as he and others tried to visit a jail holding fellow opposition supporters came amid a wave of detentions of those who have tried to protest against Lukashenko's re-election to a third term in office.
The main opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevich, attempted to visit Kozulin on Sunday but when he rang at the entrance to the detention center in the town of Zhodino he was turned away by a metallic voice telling him to come back yesterday.
"I came to check if Kozulin is here. I want to bring him my moral support," he told journalists.
Milinkevich promised to launch an information campaign that would counter the authorities' claims that the opposition had resorted to violence.
A stepson of Milinkevich is among up to 250 opposition supporters said by human-rights groups to be held in Zhodino in connection with Saturday's clash with police and with the days-long protest on Minsk's October Square. Most of those who camped out on the square were handed sentences of up to two weeks for hooliganism.
"The country doesn't know what happened due to the propaganda of the state media," Milinkevich said.
Among others being held was the leader of the United Civic Party, Anatoly Lebedko. The head of the Belarussian Popular Front, Vintsuk Vyachorka, is reportedly in hiding.
Despite the blow dealt to the opposition, Vyachorka's deputy, Viktor Ivashkevich, said progress had been made on forming a new united opposition movement called For Freedom.
"Many are now in prison but were convicted for 10 to 15 days and will come out and continue work," Ivashkevich said.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS