“We demand the immediate release of Mary and Maxim, who are not to blame. This is terror against Belarusians who dare to stand up to the regime. We will not stop until everyone in Belarus is free,” Tikhanovsky wrote on Twitter immediately after the verdict.
The European Commission on Monday called for the immediate release of Mr Kolesnikov and Mr Znak and condemned the “continuing and blatant disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Belarusian people by the Minsk regime”, Reuters. Andrei Zase, a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry, told the media that the verdict was an example of “the continued brutal pressure and intimidation of opposition politicians and civil society by the Belarussian regime”. “The German government condemns the unjustified sentence against Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak and the use of the justice system for political repression in Belarus,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Ms Kolesnikov was detained by special services in Minsk in September 2020 and tried to force her out of the country, but she tore up her passport at the border.
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