One of the Belarusian opposition figures, Maria Kolesnikova, who is serving an 11-year sentence in this former Soviet republic, was hospitalized in intensive care on Tuesday, according to her supporters.

One of the faces of the challenge to President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime after the presidential elections of 2020, “Maria was hospitalized in the intensive care unit in Gomel” in south-eastern Belarus, Viktor’s press service gave a press release to Babaryko, another detained Belarusian opponent , whose right arm she was.

According to the press release, Ms Kolesnikova, 40, was hospitalized in a surgical care unit on Monday before being transferred to intensive care.

This hospitalization came as Mr. Babaryko’s press service announced last week that the opponent had been placed in solitary confinement on the pretext of “discourteous behavior”. His lawyer had been denied access to the opponent.

Illustration of the 2020 challenge

“Terrible news! Our dear Masha (short for Maria, editor’s note), we all hope that you are well,” wrote the Belarusian opposition leader in exile, Svetlana Tichanovskaya, on Telegram on Tuesday.

Maria Kolesnikova, a key figure in the challenge to the Belarusian regime in the summer of 2020, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after a closed-door trial in September 2021 after the Belarusian judiciary found her guilty of “conspiracy to seize power”. , “calls for action that undermines national security” and “creating an extremist formation”.

His co-accused, attorney Maxime Znak, was sentenced to 10 years in a high-security penal colony.

Ms Kolesnikova was detained in September 2020 after spectacularly opposing an attempt to deport her from her own country.

According to her family, she was kidnapped by the Belarusian secret service (KGB) and then put a bag over her head to take her to the Ukrainian border. Refusing to leave Belarus, she jumped out of a window and tore up her passport, preventing her deportation but leading to her imprisonment.

courage rewards

Maria Kolesnikova and Maxime Znak worked for Viktor Babaryko, a rival of the Belarusian president who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2021 for fraud, a case he denounced as political.

They were also part of the seven-member Coordinating Council set up by the opposition after the August 2020 presidential election to try to organize a peaceful transition after more than 25 years of rule under Alexander Lukashenko.

Ms Kolesnikova was one of three women who were pushed to the forefront of the protest movement, along with Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a presidential candidate replacing her imprisoned husband, and Veronika Tsepkalo. The latter two fled the country under pressure from the authorities.

A few weeks after Maria Kolesnikova’s conviction, the Council of Europe awarded her the 2021 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, praising her “courage”.

The protest movement that brought together tens of thousands of demonstrators in Belarus in the summer of 2020 was gradually crushed, with thousands of arrests, forced exiles and imprisonment of opponents, media representatives and NGO officials.

The West has issued several packages of sanctions against Minsk, which, on the other hand, enjoys Moscow’s unwavering support.

Belarus, allied with Russia, served as a base for Russian troops in their offensive against Ukraine at the end of February, but the Belarusian army has not yet taken part in the fighting on Ukrainian territory.

This article was published automatically. Sources: ats/afp