Coordination Council leaders remain in jail after new trial. Volha Kavalkova forced to leave country Updated

Volha Kavalkova and Siarhei Dyleuski, members of the Presidium of the opposition Coordination Council, will not be released after serving their initial sentences.

Kavalkova, Belarusian Siarhei Dyleuski Christian Democracy party co-chair, and Dyleuski, head of the MTZ factory striking committee, were not allowed to leave the detention center and sentenced to new terms of administrative arrest.

The two activists were detained on August 24 and awarded 10 days of detention each for allegedly organizing an unauthorized event. They were expected to be released yesterday afternoon, but instead new similar cases were opened under Part 3 and Part 1 of Art. 23.34 Administrative Code for participation in the rally held on August 23.

The charges were heard in the court of the Centralny district of Minsk. Judge Tatsiana Akavitaya ordered Volha Kavalkova to be imprisoned for another 15 days. Judge Viktoryia Shabunia issued the same ruling against Siarhei Dyleuski.

Unless new charges appear, Kavalkova and Dyleuski will be released on September 18.

UPD. Volha Kavalkova has been forced to leave Belarus, according to Coordination Council spokesperson Anton Radniankou. 

“When I was in prison, they came to me and said that if I did not leave, I would not be released for a long time," Kavalkova said at a press-conference held today in Warsaw. She said that she was forced into a car and taken to the Polish border last night, where she was picked by a tourist bus.

"I was not going to leave Belarus and I will return soon," Kavalkova said.