MINSK. Oct 13 (Interfax) - A meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and opposition members at the State Security Committee (KGB) detention facility took place not as talks, but as the expression of opinions, member of the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council presidium Maxim Znak said.
"Maxim attended this event, which took place on Saturday. There were no talks then. This was the expression of opinions," Znak's lawyers Dmitry Layevsky and Nadezhda Znak said in a statement obtained by Interfax. These lawyers visited their client at the detention facility on Monday.
"As for Maxim, he set out his opinion he has always had on legal matters there. Maxim could give extensive comments on the event, if he were free, but not in custody," the lawyers said.
They also said that Znak had been moved to another cell, in which the incarceration conditions are much worse than before. Additionally, he is experiencing some problems with his correspondence. "The defense team is continuing to challenge the charges and his arrest in every possible way," the lawyers said.
The First Man's Pool Telegram channel, which is close to the presidential administration, said on Saturday, October 10, that the president had met with the arrested members of the Coordination Council and the joint opposition headquarters at the KGB detention facility.
"He spent four and a half hours there, speaking to the aforesaid representatives held in custody. The president's purpose was to hear everyone's views," the channel said.
"The participants decided jointly to leave the contents of their conversation secret," the statement said.
A photo posted on Telegram shows among attendees former Belarusian presidential contender and ex-director of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko and his son Eduard, Coordination Council presidium members Lilia Vlasova and Maxim Znak, political consultant Vitaly Shklyarov, and Babariko's campaign coordinator Yury Voskresensky.
Znak was detained on September 9, he was charged with calling for actions seeking to harm national security on September 18.