Poland probes disappearance of Belarusian opposition activist

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish law enforcement are investigating the disappearance of an exiled Belarusian opposition activist, one of her colleagues said on Monday, adding that her phone had been traced to Belarus.

Warsaw became a key hub for the Belarusian opposition, including a shadow government in exile, when many activists and politicians, including Angelika Melnikova, fled their homeland following a government crackdown after elections in 2020.

"The police informed us that she had left the territory of the European Union at the beginning of March," Pavel Latushka, deputy head of the self-described United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, said by phone.

He said there had been no contact with Melnikova since March 25 and that he had informed police on March 27 that she and her two children had disappeared.

Melnikova is speaker of a body known as the Coordination Council, which aims to facilitate the transfer of power in Belarus to a democratic government. It was formed by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya after elections in 2020 that critics of President Alexander Lukashenko said were rigged in his favour.

Latushka said Melnikova's phone had been traced to Belarus.

"We managed with our specialist to independently establish that her phone was in Belarus, in Minsk, on March 19 and March 25."

Latushka said there were "various possibilities" regarding her disappearance but that she may have been subject to coercion.

The Belarusian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the case.

In a social media post on Saturday, Latushka said that "key figures of Belarus's democratic forces are priority targets for the special services of the regimes in Belarus and Russia."

The two countries label opposition figures as puppets of a Western conspiracy to overthrow their legitimate authorities but have denied any links with threats received by such activists.

Poland's Interior Ministry spokesperson Jacek Dobrzynski wrote on X on Saturday that Warsaw would "support the activities of services of other countries and the Coordination Council of Belarus in order to determine the whereabouts of Melnikova".

Belarusian and Russian opposition figures have faced heightened fears over their safety after an attack in 2024 on Leonid Volkov, an exiled aide to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Latushka says he has frequently received threats and in 2024 Polish prosecutors launched an investigation into a crime against him under sections of the penal code covering homicide and the activities of foreign intelligence networks.

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Lukashenko extended his 31-year-old rule in January after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish; editing by Philippa Fletcher)