The German government believes that the opposition candidate for the presidency of Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was threatened to write down an appeal calling for an end to the protests. Berlin also points out to Minsk that all activists detained in recent days should be released, DW reports.
According to the official representative of the German Chancellor, Steffen Seibert, the fact that Tikhanovskaya was forced to leave the country and go to Lithuania shows that in Belarus “an atmosphere of intimidation, fear and violence reigns.”
Seibert said that Tikhanovskaya was “apparently forced” to record a video message calling for an end to the protest events. “This would confirm our worst fears and would allow us to imagine what repressive tools the Minsk regime is ready to use,” he added, calling what is happening in Belarus “a real wave of repression.”
On behalf of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Seibert demanded that the Belarusian authorities not only release all the detained citizens, but also “listen to them.”
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