Maria Kolesnikova and two other women led the fight against the President of Belarus. It made her a folk hero.
One Monday morning a year ago, opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova marched in the center of the capital, Minsk. Then a van with smoky windows came at full speed and stopped right in front of her. Masked men jumped out. They threw themselves at the opposition politician. The men dragged her into the car, but Kolesnikova lost the phone that bounced across the sidewalk. A masked man ran after the phone, and then the car drove off at full speed.
This is how witnesses described the incident to the then independent news website Tut.by, which the authorities had closed a few months later.
Refused to leave the country
The next day, Kolesnikova appeared at Belarus’ border with Ukraine. It was the country’s KGB security police who had taken her, and they wanted to force her to leave the country. At the border, Kolesnikova was told that if she did not leave the country, she would spend the rest of her life in prison.
Kolesnikova replied that she had no plans to leave the country. She took her passport and tore it into small pieces.
Thus, the KGB’s plan went in the sink, and Kolesnikova became a folk hero. Together with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Varnokia Tspekalo, she led the large demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko. The other two women have fled Belarus after pressure from the KGB.
–Long sentence
Monday came the price Kolesnikova must pay for his courage. A court sentenced her to 11 years in prison. She was convicted of threatening the country’s security, conspiring to seize power and organizing an extremist group, according to Dozjd.
Kolesnikova’s lawyer and opposition colleague Maksim Znak was simultaneously sentenced to ten years in prison.
Broken opposition
For almost three decades, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist. After he declared himself the winner of the presidential election for the sixth time last autumn, large demonstrations broke out. They accused him of cheating and fantasy. For months, the country’s streets were filled with hundreds of thousands of protesters.
For a time, it seemed that the president could lose power. When he was sworn in, he did not dare to perform the ceremony in public as required by the constitution. The oath was taken in secret.
Today, Lukashenko has strengthened his power. The opposition has largely been crushed, although some groups are trying to continue to oppose him in secret. The main opposition politicians have fled the country or are in prison.
Prosecutors have opened more than 4,700 criminal cases against people who took part in the street demonstrations. They are accused of extremism. The opposition says people took part in peaceful demonstrations.
659 political prisoners are to be imprisoned, according to the Belarusian human rights organization Vyasna.
Kolesnikova and Znak were standing in a cage inside the courtroom when the verdict was read out. Despite the severe punishment, Kolesnikova smiled and showed a heart with her fingers – as she used to do at the big demonstrations.
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