Efforts to unseat the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko are being spearheaded by a woman with strong links to Roscrea.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya decided to stand for election following the jailing of her husband who spoke out against the regime.
Svetlana was a regular visitor to Roscrea as part of the Chernobyl Lifeline project.
Its chairman Henry Deane spoke on Tipp Today earlier.
“We brought her back about 7 or 8 times. She spent the summer season here.”
“Sometimes in the winter she would stay because she couldn’t afford her education as a teenager. Some local people were very, very good to us like Patterson’s Nursing Home, Racket Hall Hotel and Gerry Meehan in the meat factory used to employ Svetlana – that way she would take money back to pay for her education in Belarus.”
Henry Deane says Svetlana is very much in danger based on the previous actions of Lukashenko when it comes to political opponents.
“Undoubtedly she is in serious danger. She has two children who she worships but she has had to send them out of the country for their own safety and she is at serious risk.”
“All of the people who were backing other candidates (who have been imprisoned) are now rowing in behind her Svyeta – that’s why she’s so popular internationally.”
