OPPOSITION ACCUSED OF TRYING TO ‘SEIZE POWER’

Two prominent Belarusian opposition figures spent hours being questioned by prosecutors Friday over alleged attempts to “seize power” from President Alexander Lukashenko amid weeks of protests.

Maxim Znak, attorney for a former opposition presidential candidate, and Sergey Dylevsky, a worker from the Minsk Tractor Works, who has emerged as an unofficial blue-collar leader, were interviewed the day an investigation was launched accusing them and other opposition figures of plotting to topple Lukashenko.

Both men were earlier this week named as members of the Coordination Council, an ad-hoc body formed by the opposition to oversee a transition of power away from Lukashenko, which they believe is imminent.

The European Union on Friday called for the criminal probe to be dropped.

The Belarusian leader of 26 years earlier this week appeared to be facing a fall from power. Lukashenko was awarded a landslide victory at the Aug. 9 presidential election, which was widely perceived as fraudulent.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate, Friday made her first public appearance after fleeing Belarus the day after the election and surfacing in Lithuania. She urged more workers to join industrial strikes.