Belarusian dissident Maria Kolesnikova is in intensive care, serving a prison sentence for crimes of anti-state conspiracy and extremism. About knowledgeable A Telegram channel run by the staff and associates of Viktor Babariko, a former candidate for the presidency of Belarus, who was also imprisoned on bribery charges.
“Masha Kolesnikova is in intensive care! The reason is unknown.”
According to the headquarters of Babariko, Kolesnikova is currently in an emergency hospital in Gomel – this information was confirmed by her lawyer. The convict was taken there on November 28 – first to the surgical ward, and then to the intensive care unit.
At the same time, a message on the Telegram channel says that on November 29, Kolesnikova’s defender tried to arrange a meeting with her in the colony, where she is serving her sentence. However, the lawyer’s visit was refused on the grounds that the client did not testify.
“Kolesnikova’s lawyer, Vladimir Pylchenko, in her complaints about Maria’s refusal to be admitted to the prosecutor’s office and to UDIN, expressed her concerns about her state of health. “There was no response to the complaints and objections of law enforcement officers,” he said.
On November 26, the American newspaper The Washington Post published an article following that Kolesnikova was placed in a penal cell (SHIZO) of penal colony No. 4 in Gomel. The publication does not report how long the dissident has been in solitary confinement.
At the same time, according to The Washington Post, prisoners in the Belarusian ShIZO often fall ill, are forced to sleep on wooden bunk beds without pillows or blankets, are not able to recognize the materials of the criminal case and meet with lawyers. They are also not allowed to bring anything other than toothbrushes, towels and toilet paper into the cell. Referring to the words of the relatives of the detainees, the newspaper reported that Kolesnikova had recently been punished for “being in the wrong place during working hours” and “inappropriate behavior”.
What is Kolesnikova known for?
Maria Kolesnikova, 40, is a professional flutist and conductor. Until the end of the 2010s, she actively carried out concert events, played in the opera house and in the national academic orchestra, organized international cultural projects in Belarus and Germany. In 2017, the chairman of the board of directors of Belgazprombank, controlled by Russian Gazprom, took the post of artistic director of the Ok16 cultural center, organized at the expense of Viktor Babariko, a Belarusian banker and philanthropist.
In May 2020, Kolesnikova headed the campaign center of Babariko, who decided to run for the presidency of Belarus and is considered one of the main political opponents of Alexander Lukashenko. After Babariko was denied registration and arrested on bribery charges, Kolesnikova collaborated with partners of other independent presidential candidates. After the election of the head of state and subsequent protests in Belarus, she headed the coordination committee of the Belarusian opposition.
In August and September 2020, many Kolesnikova employees left Belarus, explaining this under pressure from the authorities and threats to their loved ones. The opposition refused to leave the country, saying that he felt responsible to his imprisoned friends and allies.
On September 7 and 8, 2020, Belarusian opposition media reported that in the center of Minsk, unidentified persons abducted Kolesnikova and tried to forcibly deport her to Ukraine. However, the opposition tore up his passport in order not to cross the border. She was detained after that. On September 9, Belarusian law enforcement detained his colleague on the coordination board, lawyer Maksim Znak. As a result, they were accused of inciting action against national security, conspiring to seize state power by unconstitutional means, and forming an extremist formation.
Defenders of Kolesnikova noted that she did not have a corpus delicti. Details of the charges were not disclosed, the defendants’ lawyers were covered by a confidentiality agreement, and Kolesnikova and Znak themselves did not have access to the materials of the criminal cases and were unable to prepare for the defense at the hearing. In May 2021, Kolesnikova was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony.
Kolesnikova’s arrest, indictment and sentencing caused widespread international outcry. Human rights organizations in Western countries called the case fabrication, and the decision was politically motivated and actually a personal revenge of President Alexander Lukashenko. Even during the investigation, Kolesnikova won several international awards, including the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression in the field of human rights established by the European Parliament.