Belarus's exiled opposition leader vowed Saturday to persist fighting the country's authoritarian regime despite intensifying repression that was thrown into high relief a week ago by the diversion of a commercial airliner and the arrest of a dissident journalist who was aboard.
"We are here today to express our determination to continue the struggle for freedom. We will not back down," Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said at a rally of about 150 demonstrators in the capital of Lithuania.
"A North Korea is being built step by step" in Belarus, protester Syarhey Bulba said in the Ukrainian capital. Western countries have denounced the move as a hijacking and demanded freedom for Pratasevich. a founder of a messaging app channel that was widely used to coordinate protests against Lukashenko. He faces a potential prison term of 15 years.The long-term impact of that move is not clear, but many fear that it could drive Belarus into closer relations with Russia, which has dismissed criticism of the plane's diversion.
The demonstrations on Saturday also marked the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Syarhey Tsikhanousky, a popular blogger and activist who had planned to challenge Lukashenko in last year's election but was arrested after a scuffle at a campaign rally that reportedly injured a police office.