Belarus will go to the polls on Sunday to elect its president. The re -election of Alexandre Loukachenko, who has directed his country with an iron fist for 30 years, has little doubt. Five years after the violent repression of anti-regime demonstrations, the RTS met Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, the woman who embodies, in exile, the opposition.
The election is denounced as a masquerade by Western democracies and the opposition in exile. “It doesn’t change anything for the country. Lukachenko continues to be illegitimate. He continues to participate in this war of assault against Ukraine. He has become the puppet of Putin by abandoning our independence and our serenity,” comments Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa , File of the Belarusian opposition in exile, in the 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
>> On the repression of opponents in Belarus, Read: Brutal repression of a large demonstration in Belarus
Freedom and solidarity condemned
The 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud. Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a candidate at the time, rejected the result. For the past two years, she has remained without news of her imprisoned husband, opponent Sergei Tikhanovski.
>> Reread: The opposition rejects the results of the presidential election in Belarus
“Belarus has become a prison. People do not understand the rules. You can be stopped because of the color of your socks or for having spoken our national language, Belarusian, or even for saying ‘stop war’” , continues the opponent.
-Solidarity is also prohibited, she says. “You risk five or ten years in prison if you support children of political prisoners for example.”
Opposition always in force
If the opposition is discreet for five years, the movement in exile is very well structured, according to its leader.
“Our strategy is to weaken the regime as much as possible, by sabotage, resistance, thanks to democracies which are our partners and who isolate Loukachenko,” said Svetlana Thikanovskaia, explaining that the first contacts were made with the new administration UNITED STATES. It also calls democracies, including Switzerland, not to abandon the Belarusian opposition.
Laurent Burkhalter / Juma
World
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