Belarus: interview with Maria Kalesnikawa about the opposition's plans and the violence in the country

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Svetlana Tichanowskaja (l,) and Maria Kalesnikawa in Minsk

The three women marched through Belarus: tens of thousands cheered the opposition candidate Svetlana Tichanowskaya and her fellow campaigners Weronika Zepkalo and Maria Kalesnikawa when they talked about the stalemate in the country, the repression and all the opportunities that Belarus has. Now only Kalesnikawa is left in the country. After pressure and threats, Zepkalo and Tichanovskaya left Minsk. What happens now? What is the opposition planning, also in view of the protests in the streets?

SPIEGEL: First the most important question, how are you?

Maria Kalesnikawa: Thank you so far, I'm in our election office in Minsk.

SPIEGEL: Svetlana Tichanovskaya left Belarus, probably not voluntarily. When was the last time you saw her? What do you know about it?

Kalesnikawa: I last saw Svetlana on Monday when we went to the Central Election Commission together at 4 p.m. to lodge a complaint against the official election result. Svetlana was not allowed into the office of the head of the electoral commission, Lidsija Yarmoschyna, for a long time. Then Swetlana was allowed to enter the room with her lawyer. Only later did we find out that the lawyer had to leave the room, and the head of the electoral authority also left. So Svetlana was left alone. As we now know, with two officers from the security authorities. She was in the room with them for three hours, without a phone, without Internet, without her lawyer. Then she came out, hugged her lawyer and said briefly, "Sorry, I've made a decision, I want to be with my children". Then she left the building.

We assume that she did not leave Belarus voluntarily.

SPIEGEL: Do you think Tichanovskaya was put under pressure?

Kalesnikawa: Yes, I'm sure if a woman is in the same room for three hours with two representatives of the state security forces, then that is pressure. We assume that she did not leave Belarus voluntarily.

SPIEGEL: Were you able to talk to her about it?

Kalesnikawa: No,I wrote to her, called her, several times. Today as well. No reaction.

SPIEGEL: What does that mean for you, the many volunteers from the election campaign and the demonstrators on the street?

Kalesnikawa: It's a very difficult time. But I think the Belarusians understand what happened, understand that it was coercion that Svetlana had to bring herself and her family to safety. I am almost certain that after all the election fraud and cynicism that people have experienced, they will not come to terms with it. First the candidates were taken from them: Viktor Babarriko, for whom I am committed, is in custody; Valery Zepkalo, also fled abroad to Moscow. Then Svetlana took over. Now she too was driven out of the country under pressure.

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Hug after the election on August 9: Maria Kalesnikawa (left) and Svetlana Tichanowskaja

SPIEGEL: Weronika Zepkalo, your other colleague, is now also in Moscow. She says she had to leave Belarus because of the threat of arrest. Are there such threats against you?

Kalesnikawa: Not that I know of. I was recently arrested once outside our office, but released a short time later and taken by the officers to the restaurant where I was meeting. You spoke of a "mistake".

SPIEGEL: You are alone now, will you continue?

Kalesnikawa: I will stay with my team in Belarus, we will continue. We have a lot of work to do, compiling information about the election fraud. We get numerous clues. That's one thing. The other is that we help people who now have problems: Members of election commissions who have given honest results and are under pressure lose their jobs. We try to find new jobs for them. And we take care of those who disappeared during the protests and are now probably in prison. We are currently building a group of volunteers who are looking for them, we are providing legal assistance and trying to help financially. Hundreds of our supporters alone were arrested, including many friends.

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Emergency services hit a man

SPIEGEL: Are you going to protest yourself?

Kalesnikawa: Yesterday I was on the street in Minsk, not in the middle of it, but I saw how cruelly people are treated, how they are dragged into the prison vans and buses and the violence they are subjected to.

SPIEGEL: You don't want to demonstrate yourself?

Kalesnikawa: That's a tough question. I want to support the Belarusian people and do everything I can to ensure that the leadership hears the people and sees that the people understand that they were betrayed in this election. The country's leadership must end this scam, take responsibility for people's safety. The violence must stop.

SPIEGEL: So far, however, it does not seem that Lukashenko is in any way ready for a dialogue.

Kalesnikawa: Yes, unfortunately. On the evening of the election we turned to the heads of the presidential administration and the interior ministry with an appeal not to use violence. We didn't get an answer until today. How long will the protests last? I dont know. What I know is that we Belarusians have the right to peaceful protest, the right to demand new and fair elections. I want to continue to support this process. We are at a turning point in Belarus: I feel the support of the people who want to change something in their country. It now depends on us how it goes on.

Collaboration: Alexander Chernyshev