Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Lithuania on Friday publicly rebuffed a request from the Belarus General Prosecutor's Office to extradite the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to the country after a harsh government crackdown followed disputed elections last summer.

Belarus requested Tsikhanouskaya extradition "to face prosecution for crimes against the governing order, public safety and the state." but Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis response to the request was blunt: "We can tell the Belarusian regime that we would rather watch hell freeze over than think about their demands."

With most potential opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko locked up as political prisoners and only one approved opposition candidate, three women in Belarus attempt to bring political change to the Eastern European country.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a foreign language teacher, began her campaign in Minsk, supported by Maria Kolesnikova, and by Veronika Zepkalo. Kolesnikova was the campaign chief of former candidate Viktor Babariko, while Zepkalo is the wife of Valery Tsepkalo, also a former presidential candidate.