Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opposition candidate in Sunday’s disputed elections in Belarus, has surfaced in Lithuania after she was detained by Belarusian authorities for seven hours after filing a complaint against vote-rigging. TheGuardian reported that a member of her campaign team said that Tikhanovskaya had been pressured to leave the country by the government in exchange for the release of her campaign manager, Maria Moroz, who was held by police for several days and is now also in Lithuania.In a video published Tuesday morning, a visibly distressed Tikhanovskaya indicated she had faced an ultimatum. “God forbid you face the kind of face that I faced,” she said. “Children are the most important thing in our lives.” According to the commission’s dubious results, she took just 10.09 percent of the vote, while the longtime ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, won 80.08 percent. Belarus’ interior ministry said Tuesday that at least 2,000 people had been detained Monday in the unrest over the election, in addition to the 3,000 the day before.
