Protests last December led to hundreds of arrests in Minsk; photo - EPAProminent Belarusian opposition leader Aleksander Lukin has defected to Poland.
Lukin was detained for 15 days by Belarusian authorities after protests against what was claimed to have been rigged presidential elections on 19 December last year.
Lukin undertook the desperate action while crossing the Polish-Belarusian border on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his family when Belarusian border guards attempted to detain them.
Lukin and his wife managed to flee across to Polish territory and find shelter there.
Their children were left in the car on the Belarusian side.
The incident had been discussed by representatives of Polish and Belarusian border services late last night, after which Aleksander Lukin decided to stay in Poland, while his wife returned to Belarus to claim the abandoned children.
Aleksander Lukin is a close aide to former opposition presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau.
He was sentenced by a Minsk court for participating in the anti-Lukashenko demonstrations staged in the Belarusian capital on election night of 19 December, last year.
After serving his penalty, Lukin travelled to France but had eventually returned to Belarus. (ss)