OREANDA-NEWS. The opposition of Belarus has created a new council, the names of its members are kept secret for their protection, Nobel laureate, writer Svetlana Alexievich said in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel.

“The opposition coordinating council no longer exists. Its members either were in prison, or are in prison now, or were expelled from the country, or fled,” she explained. Alexievich added that members of the new council communicate through social networks.

The Belarusian opposition, which did not recognize the official results of the presidential election, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won for the sixth time in a row, created a council for the transit of power in the republic. Oppositionists demanded negotiations with the authorities and the organization of new election. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus opened a criminal case against council members under the article on calls to seize power. Currently, seven members of the presidium of the council are under arrest; others, including Alexievich, have gone abroad.