Authorities carry documents and computers out of the opposition Coordination Council office after a search raid in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2020. Belarusian authorities on Wednesday detained one of the last leading members of an opposition council who remained free, moving methodically to end a month of protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/TUT.by)
The Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Belarusian authorities on Wednesday detained one of the last leading members of an opposition council who remained free, moving methodically to end a month of protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Lawyer Maxim Znak, a member of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to facilitate talks with the country's leader of 26 years on a transition of power, was taken out of the council's office by unidentified people in ski masks, associate Gleb German said.
Znak only had time to text message 'œmasks'ť before they took the phone away from him. German said.
Unidentified people also attempted Wednesday to enter the apartment of writer Svetlana Alexievich, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature and now the only member of the council's executive presidium still free in Belarus.
Diplomats from several European Union nations and journalists converged on Alexievich's apartment to try to prevent her detention.
The foreign ministers of the Nordic Baltic nations, meeting in Estonia on Wednesday, urged Belarusian authorities to end a police crackdown on post-election protests and the prosecution of activists.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde voiced deep concern over the crackdown on protesters and the detentions and forcible expulsions of opposition activists.
"We demand the immediate release of all those detained on political grounds before and after the falsified presidential election,'ť she said after the meeting.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said the members of the opposition council only want to allow the people of Belarus to 'œchoose their future themselves. That's the least they are asking, and the least they deserved.'ť
Last month, Nobel laureate Alexievich was questioned by Belarusian investigators, who have opened a criminal investigation into members of the Coordination Council, accusing them of undermining national security by calling for a transfer of power. Several council members were arrested and others were forcibly expelled from the country.
Alexievich dismissed the official accusations, saying in a statement released Wednesday that the council was seeking to defuse the crisis sparked by Lukashenko's reelection to a sixth term by offering to foster a dialogue between authorities and protesters. The president's critics say the Aug. 9 election was rigged.
'œWe weren't preparing a coup, we were trying to prevent a split in our country,'ť Alexievich said.
She warned that the arrests of opposition activists will not end protests.
'œThey have stolen our country and now they are trying to abduct the best of us,'ť Alexievich said. 'œBut hundreds of others will come to replace those who have been taken away from our ranks. It wasn't the Coordination Council that rebelled, it was the entire country that raised.'ť
Speaking to reporters from her apartment, she said she doesn't plan to leave the country despite the official pressure.
'œThis is terror against our own people,'ť she said.
Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of the council, was detained Monday in the capital of Minsk along with two other council members and then driven early Tuesday to the border, where authorities told them to cross into Ukraine.
When they arrived in a no-man's land between the countries, Kolesnikova ripped her passport into small pieces to make it impossible for the authorities to expel her. Kolesnikova was put into custody on the Belarusian side of the border, and her father said investigators called him Wednesday to say that she was moved to a jail in Minsk.
Lukashenko has dismissed the opposition as Western stooges and rejected demands from the U.S. and the European Union to engage in a dialogue with protesters who see his reelection as rigged and are demanding his resignation.
After a brutal police crackdown in the initial days after the vote stoked international outrage and swelled the ranks of protesters, authorities in Belarus have switched to threats and selective arrests of activists and demonstrators to stamp out the unrest.
Police dispersed a few hundred demonstrators rallying in Minsk late Tuesday in solidarity with Kolesnikova and detained at least 45 protesters, according to the Viasna human rights center.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement expressing concern about the attempt to expel Kolesnikova and warning that the United States and its allies are considering sanctions against Belarus.
On Wednesday, Lukashenko's main election challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, visited Poland to receive the symbolic keys to a new Belarusian center in Warsaw from Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Tsikhanouskaya left Belarus after the election under official pressure,
'œPoland is an open home for all Belarusians who need help,'ť Morawiecki said.
___
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Jari Tanner in Tallinn, Estonia, Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report.
___
Follow all AP stories on the developments in Belarus at https://apnews.com/Belarus
Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Nobel literature laureate smiles while looking out of her apartment door to greets supporters in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2020. On Wednesday morning unidentified people were trying to enter the apartment of the last member of the council's executive presidium who remained free, Svetlana Alexievich. Belarusian authorities on Wednesday detained Maxim Znak, one of the last leading members of an opposition council who remained free, moving methodically to end a month of protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo/TUT.by)
The Associated Press
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya interacts with supporters in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The visit to Warsaw by Tsikhanouskaya is one way in which the Polish government is seeking to support the Belarusian opposition in its struggle for change after a disputed election.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The Associated Press
Police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to facilitate talks with Lukashenko on a transition of power, was detained Monday in the capital of Minsk with two other council members, in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. A leading opposition activist in Belarus is being held on the border with Ukraine after she resisted attempts by authorities to deport her from the country as part of a clampdown on protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2020, file photo, Maria Kolesnikova, one of Belarus' opposition leaders, center left, and her father Alexander, center right, walk on the way to the Belarusian Investigative Committee in Minsk, Belarus. Kolesnikova, a professional flute player with no political experience, emerged as a key opposition activist in Belarus. She has appeared at protests of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after he was kept in power by an Aug. 9 election that his critics say was rigged. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)
The Associated Press
A woman with her child react as police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to facilitate talks with Lukashenko on a transition of power, was detained Monday in the capital of Minsk with two other council members, in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. A leading opposition activist in Belarus is being held on the border with Ukraine after she resisted attempts by authorities to deport her from the country as part of a clampdown on protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2020, file photo, Belarusian opposition activists, members of the coordinating council, from the left, Pavel Latushko, Maria Kolesnikova, Olga Kovalkova, Maxim Znak, Sergey Dylevsky attend a joint news conference in Minsk, Belarus. Kolesnikova, a professional flute player with no political experience, emerged as a key opposition activist in Belarus. She has appeared at protests of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after he was kept in power by an Aug. 9 election that his critics say was rigged. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
The Associated Press
Exiled Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya,left, and Polish Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki speak during a meeting with the Belarusian community living in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2020. The visit to Warsaw by Tsikhanouskaya is one way in which the Polish government is seeking to support the Belarusian opposition in its struggle for change after a disputed election. (AP Photo/Monika Scislowska)
The Associated Press
Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Nobel literature laureate smiles as she opens her apartment door to greet supporters in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2020. On Wednesday morning unidentified people tried to enter the apartment of the last member of the council's executive presidium who remained free. (AP Photo/TUT.by)
The Associated Press
Lawyer Maxim Znak, a member of the opposition Coordination Council, which was set up after the Aug. 9 election to try to negotiate a transition of power with the government of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. Znak said the Belarus Supreme Court refused to look at 26 folders of evidence from the opposition that the election keeping Lukashenko in power was rigged. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
The Associated Press
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is pictured as she visits the Polish Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The Associated Press