TALLINN, Estonia — Imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova has resurfaced after greater than 20 months with none communication with family members or pals and met along with her father, a human rights group stated Tuesday.
Kolesnikova, one of the common and charismatic figures who helped lead protests of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, was final heard from in February 2023.
The 42-year-old musician-turned activist, who suffered a critical sickness and underwent surgical procedure whereas in jail, has been serving her 11-year sentence at a facility close to Gomel.
Viasna, Belarus’ main rights group, stated Kolesnikova met her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, at a jail hospital.
Raman Pratasevich, a former opposition journalist who later grew to become a authorities supporter after he was arrested, on Tuesday launched images of smiling Kolesnikova embracing her father, who beforehand had been denied permission to see her. He stated the assembly happened Tuesday, nevertheless it was not instantly potential to confirm the images or after they might need been taken.
Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the broadly disputed August 2020 election gave Lukashenko a sixth time period in workplace. Along with her close-cropped hair, broad smile and trademark gesture of forming her outstretched palms into the form of a coronary heart, she typically was seen on the entrance of the demonstrations.
She grew to become an excellent larger image of resistance ithe subsequent month when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Pushed to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from safety forces within the impartial zone on the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked again into Belarus. She was convicted a yr later of costs together with conspiracy to grab energy.
In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to endure surgical procedure for a perforated ulcer. Former inmates informed her sister, Tatiana Khomich, that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed solely about 45 kilograms .
Kolesnikova, who earlier than the 2020 protests was a classical flautist, is one among a number of main Lukashenko opponents to vanish behind bars.
Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, together with the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. No less than seven have died behind bards.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “pressing protecting measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and different political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus launch all political prisoners.
Lukashenko, who’s searching for a seventh time period in an election set for January 2025, has launched 146 political prisoners since July. These freed had well being issues, wrote petitions for pardons and repented. On the similar time, Belarusian authorities have launched a brand new wave of arrests, searching for to uproot any signal of dissent earlier than the election.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition-leader-in-exile, informed The Related Press that she was comfortable that Kolesnikova was allowed to see her father and reaffirmed a requirement that she and different political prisoners be launched.
“We should to maintain urgent for an finish to the isolation of different political prisoners and their launch,” stated Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is serving a 19 1/2-year jail sentence and has been held incommunicado for greater than 20 months.
Pavel Sapelka of Viasna stated permitting Kolesnikova to see her father may very well be a sign from Lukashenko that he is “prepared to start out a dialog in regards to the destiny of different political prisoners.”
“Lukashenko is ready for Western response to the most recent steps and is ready to cut price forward of January’s election,” Sapelka stated.
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