Belarus Authorities Give Tikhanovskaya the Same Status as Terrorists
Belarusbank has blocked accounts associated with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, former candidate to the president’s office of the Belarus Republic.
According to the politician, she had no clue why her account was blocked, so she decided to call the bank to clarify what happened. Tikhanovskaya was told that her bank account is blocked now because she has been included in the official list of people involved in terrorism.
«The blocking of the account has been implemented under the policy, which is aimed to freeze any kind of assets of individuals who are on the list of terrorists,» Tikhanoskaya reported, citing a manager from the bank.
As the opponent to the president Alexander Lukashenko noted, the only source of income she has currently is a social security pension for her disabled underage son. The payment is about $84.50 per month.
In the beginning of the month, Belarusian KGB has added Tikhanovskaya to the terrorist list along with Pavel Latushko, another member of the political opposition. According to KGB both of them as well as 15 other individuals are part of BYPOL – a terrorist organization organized by former Belarusian law enforcement officers to overthrow Lukashenko.
At the end of March, the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that one of the BYPOL members was planning a terrorist attack against military personnel in Minsk. This man was arrested and then allegedly testified against Tikhanovskaya and others. Right after that, the authorities brought an action against all of them, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
In August 2020, when Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the presidential elections in Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya described these results as fraudulent and called on people to take to the streets.
On August 10, the politician left the country and moved to neighbor Lithuania because there was a threat to her children, according to her. In early March 2021, the Investigating Committee of Belarus announced that Tikhanovskaya tried to make a coup in Gomel. The country’s Prosecutor’s Office had even sent a request for extradition of the politician but their counterparts in Lithuania refused to do so.
