Diplomacy: Dobrindt: Germany accepts opposition members from Belarus | EUROtoday

According to Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), Germany will absorb two distinguished opposition figures from Belarus who had been not too long ago launched from jail. It is about Maria Kolesnikova and ex-presidential candidate Viktor Babariko, mentioned Dobrindt within the ARD “Report from Berlin”. The portal “tageschau.de” additionally reported this.

“We have a great interest in strengthening this democracy movement, even if it now has to develop further outside of Belarus,” defined the Federal Interior Minister. “And that’s why we’re going to take in two of the outstanding politicians, opposition politicians, who were in prison today.”

A couple of years in the past, Kolesnikova labored as a cultural supervisor in Stuttgart for a very long time and speaks fluent German. In the “Tagesthemen” interview that was broadcast that night, she didn’t focus on a attainable long-term keep in Germany. She mentioned she would not have a plan for the longer term but. But she believes that she’s going to return to Belarus in some unspecified time in the future, even when that’s troublesome to think about proper now. The imprisonment was troublesome for her well being, however not for her psyche, as a result of: “Inside I was always free.”

According to official info, Belarusian chief Alexander Lukashenko launched 123 political prisoners on Saturday, together with Kolesnikova and Babariko. Lukashenko’s press service in Minsk mentioned the discharge occurred “within the framework of the agreements reached with US President Donald Trump and at his request.” More than 100 prisoners had been taken by bus in another country to Ukraine. Kolesnikova was amongst them.

Shortly earlier than Dobrindt’s announcement, Kolesnikova had declared her intention to go away Ukraine. “I think that I will not stay in Ukraine because I can live in another country. My sister is in Europe and my family is also in other countries,” the opposition determine mentioned at a press convention in Kiev. Babariko, who was additionally current on the press convention, had no such plans but.

Kolesnikova was one of many leaders of the mass protests after the 2020 presidential election, which was overshadowed by unprecedented allegations of manipulation. The ruler Lukashenko suppressed the protests. Kolesnikova was arrested in September 2020 and a 12 months later sentenced to 11 years in jail for conspiracy to overthrow the nation. She was thought-about a political prisoner.