Eurotopics.net

The trial of Maria Kolesnikova - one of the three leading Belarusian opposition politicians - began behind closed doors in Minsk on Wednesday. Kolesnikova was arrested when she resisted deportation to Ukraine last autumn by tearing up her passport. Now she and her lawyer Maksim Znak face up to twelve years in prison.

The Bundestag elections this autumn are drawing closer - and with them a new face in the German Chancellery after almost 16 years under Merkel. None of the three top candidates - Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock - are inspiring much enthusiasm in Europe's press, but opinions differ as to whether real change can be expected.

In Iran, the new ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi has officially taken office after Iran's spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, confirmed the election in Tehran. Raisi will be sworn in before parliament today. Hopes that the political situation in the country will improve under the new president are unfounded, if not naïve, commentators say.

The Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov, who had been reported missing on Monday, was found hanged from a tree in a park near his home in Kyiv on Tuesday. Police said investigations point to murder staged as suicide. Shishov was head of the organisation Belarusian House in Ukraine and supported opponents of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka who had fled the country.