VILNIUS, Aug 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Belarus opposition challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is in Lithuania, the foreign minister said, following nights of clashes in the authoritarian former Soviet republic after a disputed election.
“She arrived in Lithuania and is safe,” Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said.
The minister did not provide further details.
EU and NATO member Lithuania, which was also once part of the Soviet Union, has a history of granting refuge to Belarusian and Russian opposition figures.
The whereabouts of Tikhanovskaya, a political novice who has claimed victory in Sunday’s poll against President Alexander Lukashenko, had been unknown as of late Monday.
One man died in protests in Belarus as thousands took to the streets of the capital Minsk late on Monday, saying Lukashenko had stolen the election from Tikhanovskaya to take a sixth term.
Police used rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas but demonstrators fought back with stones and fireworks and built makeshift barricades, protesters and witnesses said, in chaotic scenes of defiance.
In the Belarusian capital, MINSK at least 213 people were detained as police cracked down on protesters claiming Lukashenko rigged Sunday’s presidential election, a prominent rights group said on Monday.
Officials say one demonstrator died when an explosive device went off in his hands – the first confirmed casualty since the clashes began.
Lukashenko won 80.23% of the vote, according to election officials, with
his main rival Tikhanovskaya, 37, a former teacher, receiving 9.9%.
President Lukashenko, 65, was first elected in 1994.
Tikhanovskaya entered the election in place of her jailed husband and went on to lead large opposition rallies. — NNN-AGENCIES
