Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. Last year she was one of the leaders in the protest against the electoral fraud that resulted in an overwhelming majority of President Lukashenko re-elected.
Last September, the Belarusian authorities wanted to expel her from the country, but she refused. Kolesnikova tore her passport at the Ukrainian border. Since then she has been stuck in Belarus. Kolesnikova is one of tens of thousands of protesters arrested during the protests.
According to the court in Minsk, she was guilty of, among other things, undermining state security and setting up an extremist group.
Kolesnikova is a member of a coordination council that opposes Lukashenko. Another council member, Maxim Znak, was sentenced today to ten years in prison on the same grounds. This coordination council was established last August to peacefully take over power from Lukashenko.
Activists fear Lukashenko
Many activists have now fled the country, but they are not safe abroad either. For example, journalist and activist Roman Protasevich was arrested after being taken off a flight between Greece and Lithuania. The plane had to evade the Belarusian authorities and was forced to land in Minsk, because there was a bomb on board.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who ran against President Lukashenko in the elections, fled to Lithuania. In May she was received by Prime Minister Rutte in The Hague.
–
