I have made a very difficult decision for myself.”Both she and the Belarusian authorities said she had not been forced to leave. “And I know that many people will understand me, many will judge me and many will hate me. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the election was “not free and fair” and condemned “ongoing violence against protesters and the detention of opposition supporters”. She was initially reluctant to stand, saying she had received an anonymous threat of having her children taken away. Her husband, Syarhei, had popularised a protest movement that compared Lukashenko to a cockroach character from a children’s fairytale.

Source: bd News24 August 11, 2020 11:29 UTC