MINSK, March 5. /TASS/. The Belarusian Prosecutor-General’s Office has asked Lithuania to extradite Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for bringing her to justice on criminal charges.

"The Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Republic of Belarus has dispatched a request to the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania for the extradition for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for bringing her to justice on criminal charges for crimes against the rules of administration, public security and the state," the Prosecutor-General’s Office said in its telegram channel on Friday.

Also, the Prosecutor-General’s office has sent to the Gomel regional court a criminal case against Tikhanovskaya’s four confidants.

"As follows from the materials of the case, the accused, acting in collusion with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, planned massive unrest in Gomel, the seizure of buildings of local bodies of government and the appointment of their own chiefs of administrations and local executive authorities," the Prosecutor-General’s Office said. After studying the materials of the case the Prosecutor-General’s office arrived at the conclusion "the charges were well-founded and the circumstances of the crimes investigated fully and impartially and the interpretation of the committed wrongdoings was correct."

"The prosecutor upheld the restrictive measure selected for the accused: all should be remanded in custody," the Belarusian Prosecutor-General’s Office said.

On Tuesday, the Belarusian Investigative Committee said the investigation of Tikhanovskaya’s four confidants had been completed and the request for her extradition submitted to the Prosecutor-General’s Office. The accused are charged under part 1 of article 13 and part 2 of article 293 (preparations for massive unrest) and part 1 of article 13 and part 1 of article 292 (preparations for seizing buildings and facilities) of the Belarusian Criminal Code.

Later, Lithuania’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mantas Adomenas said that Tikhanovskaya would not be extradited from Lithuania, should her extradition be requested by Minsk. He said that it was against Lithuania’s rules to extradite people who face political persecution. Tikhanovskaya has been in Lithuania since August 2020.