Top Belarus activist says authorities threatened to kill her

A prominent opposition activist who resisted her forcible expulsion from Belarus by ripping up her passport has accused Belarusian authorities of threatening to kill her amid their efforts to end a month of protests against the country's authoritarian president.

Maria Kolesnikova said in a formal complaint released by her lawyer on Thursday that agents of Belarus' state security committee put a bag on her head and drove her to the border with Ukraine before she fought her removal from Belarus and was jailed.

“They threatened to kill me,” Kolesnikova said. “They stated that if I refuse to leave the territory of Belarus voluntarily, they will get me out of the country anyway – alive or in fragments."

READ MORE: Leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova reportedly abducted in Belarus

Opposition activists came under increasing pressure this week as Belarus marked a month since massive demonstrations broke out against President Alexander Lukashenko’s reelection to a sixth term. 

The opposition rejects the country's August 9 vote as rigged, and the protesters demanding Lukashenko's resignation represent an unprecedented challenge to the Belarusian leader’s 26-year rule.

Kolesnikova is a leading member of the Coordination Council created by opposition activists to push for a new election. She was detained on Monday and destroyed her passport in a no-man's land between Ukraine and Belarus the next day to prevent her expulsion.

READ MORE: Belarus authorities accused of misogyny ahead of election

Kolesnikova, who remains jailed in Minsk, is accused of undermining national security as part of a criminal probe against senior members of the opposition Coordination Council. 

All of the council's senior members except for Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich have been jailed or forcibly expelled from the country.

Unidentified people attempted on Wednesday to enter Alexievich's apartment in Minsk, and diplomats from several European Union nations gathered there to prevent her detention.

Speaking to prosecutors on Thursday, Lukashenko urged them to take tougher action to end ongoing protests.

“You must not only give a legal assessment to the actions of their organisers and agitators, but mount a stronger, more powerful prosecutorial response,” he said.

READ MORE: Belarus women form 'lines of solidarity' against protest crackdown

The 66-year-old former state farm director firmly shrugged off the opposition demands to step down. Lukashenko has dismissed the opposition as Western stooges and rejected demands from the United States and the European Union to engage in a dialogue with the opposition.

“I want to say it in a manly way to avoid any misunderstanding,” he said. “They often lament that ‘He wouldn’t give up power.' And they rightfully do so. People haven't elected me for that. The power is given not to take it and then give it away. No one will dare to throw the government into the dirt.”