This medieval cruelty and slow murder is taking place here, in Europe, in the 21st century – wrote the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who provided information about the health of the Belarusian oppositionist Maria Kalesnikava.
“The information we are receiving about Maria Kalesnikava from fellow prisoners is alarming,” the leader of the exiled Belarusian opposition wrote on social media on Friday. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
She said: “Kalesnikava currently weighs only 45 kilograms, is starving and is kept in constant isolation in terrible conditions.”
“This medieval cruelty and slow murder is taking place here, in Europe, in the 21st century,” she noted, attaching a photo of the opposition activist.
Kalesnikava in prison
Detained on September 7, 2020, Kalesnikava, who is a professional flautist, was sentenced in 2021 to 11 years in prison for “calling for actions harmful to national security, colluding to seize power in the country, and creating an extremist organization.”
The oppositionist was first an associate of banker and businessman Viktar Babaryka, who intended to run in the presidential elections Belarus in 2020, and later – after his detention and imprisonment – of the opposition candidate in those elections – Tsikhanouskaya.
In November 2022, due to perforated stomach ulcers, Kalesnikawa was admitted to hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery. After returning to the colony and being placed in the local prison for a short time (10 minutes), she was allowed to meet her father.
Main image source: Getty Images