Belarus opposition politician told she would be deported ‘alive or in bits’

A jailed Belarusian opposition leader says she feared for her life when security officers threw a bag over her head during an attempt to deport her.

Maria Kolesnikova says she was forced into a van and told that if she did not leave willingly she would be removed anyway “alive or in bits”.

She is seeking a criminal case against Belarusian security forces including the KGB, her lawyer said.

Mass unrest has gripped Belarus since last month’s disputed polls.

Ms Kolesnikova is one of three women who joined forces to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in August’s election. She is the last of the three women to remain inside Belarus.

The main opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, says she won 60-70% of the election in places where votes were properly counted. She fled to Lithuania after she was detained in August.

In a statement filed by her lawyer, she said she had been forced into the van by masked men on Monday in the capital, Minsk.

“It was stated that if I did not voluntarily leave the Republic of Belarus, I would be taken out anyway, alive or in bits. There were also threats to imprison me for up to 25 years.”

Her lawyer says her client is in “good spirits”.

During the inauguration of a new chief prosecutor on Thursday, the president maintained his legitimacy as leader.

“People often reproach me: ‘He won’t give up power.’ They’re right to reproach me. The people didn’t elect me for this,” he said.

“Power is not given to be taken, thrown and given away.”

The president, in power since 1994, said that Belarus could not return to the instability of the years following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Meanwhile, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has offered Ms Tikhanovskaya a house in the capital Warsaw.