28 September 2020 | Alena Talkachova, TUT.BY
Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Literature Nobel Prize winner and a member of the Coordination Council flew to Germany early Monday morning. Her departure is not connected with the criminal case against the Coordination Council, as her special assistant, Tatsiana Tsiuryna informed TUT.BY.
“Why would Svetlana (Alexievich) leave her country for good? Nothing of the sort, she left for personal reasons. She has several meetings planned, and she is going to participate in a book fair in Sweden and to receive an award in Sicily,” Tatsiana said.
Therefore, her departure is not connected with the criminal case against the Coordination Council? She is not emigrating?
“Certainly not. She left the country for personal and work reasons. This is her usual lifestyle, she just couldn’t leave earlier because of her health issues. When will she be back? It depends on how things will go here, and her health,” Tatsiana explained.
Earlier, on 20 August, Aliaksandr Kaniuk, then Chief Prosecutor of Belarus, indicted the Coordination Council, stating that its creation and activities were aimed at a seizure of state power and at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus.’
As a result, a criminal case was launched under Article 361 of the Penal Code. The Central Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee initiated proceedings on the criminal case based on the evidence of prohibited acts as defined by Part 3 Article 361 of the Penal Code, i.e. making public appeals via mass media or Internet to seizure of state power, or prohibited acts aimed at harming national security of the Republic of Belarus.
Out of seven members of the Coordination Council presidium, five are either in jail or were forced to leave the country. Only Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich and Siarhei Dyleuski, a member of the MTZ strike committee, remain free.
