(26 Aug 2020) BELARUS AUTHORITIES INTERROGATE NOBEL LAUREATE
Nobel Prize-winning writer and member of opposition Coordination Council, Svetlana Alexievich was summonsed by an Investigation Committee in Belarus on Wednesday for interrogation in a criminal inquiry on charges of undermining national security.
Due to having witness status, Alexievich refused to answer investigators' questions using her right not testify against herself.
"They try to scare us, but we are not guilty of anything," she told The Associated Press. "We want to live in a free country, we want to free."
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko threatened the council members with criminal charges for attempting to create what he described as a parallel government.
Prosecutors opened a criminal inquiry on charges of undermining national security, an allegation rejected by the council.
Opposition activists established the Coordination Council last week to negotiate a transition of power following Lukashenko winning a sixth term in an election that critics contend was rigged.
"The more there are people, the more we are united and stronger, the more chances we have to make authorities talk to us, respect to us and speak with us," Alexievich said on leaving the Investigation Committee.
The protests erupted after official results handed Lukashenko a landslide victory with 80% of the vote, and galvanized by a brutal crackdown in the initial days after the election, when police detained nearly 7,000 people.
Hundreds were injured when officers fiercely dispersed peaceful protesters with rubber bullets, stun grenades and clubs, leading to the deaths of at least three people.

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