Four years ago, the Belarusian regime detained activist Maria Kalesnikava, an associate of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. She has been behind bars ever since, and her family has not heard from her for over a year and a half. She is kept in strict isolation. This is a practice used by the regime against political opponents of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. According to unofficial information – which is the only information that reaches Kalesnikava's relatives – her health is terrible. She suffers from stomach ulcers and weighs only 45 kilograms.
“Four years ago, Maria Kalesnikava was detained by Lukashenka's thugs. They tried to deport her, but in an act of defiance she tore up her passport. She has been behind bars ever since. In isolation for over 500 days. Her courage and strength make us all proud to be Belarusians,” the leader of the Belarusian opposition wrote on Platform X on Saturday. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Political trial and conviction for “anti-state collusion and extremism”
Kalesnikava, who is a professional flautist, was a key figure in the campaign of banker Viktar Babaryka, who was planning to run in the 2020 presidential election as a rival to Alexander Lukashenko. After he was detained and imprisoned, Kalesnikava joined the team of opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
After the rigged elections, security officers drove Kalesnikava to the border, intending to force her to leave the country. The activist tore up her passport and was then detained and imprisoned. A year later, in 2021, she was sentenced in a political trial to 11 years in prison for “calling for actions to harm national security, colluding to seize power in the country, and creating an extremist organization.” She was tried together with her lawyer Maksim Znak, who was accused of the same (sentenced to 10 years in prison).
The Belarusian opposition activist is serving a prison sentence in a penal colony in Gomel, in the south of the country. In the fall of 2022, she was hospitalized with perforated stomach ulcers. Her family has not received any information from her since February 2023. The political prisoner is kept in complete isolation, which lawyers call “incommunicado”. Such treatment is illegal, but Belarus – as activists say human rights – it's the norm.
The last letter was received by the relatives 1.5 years ago. They speak of “torture and slow killing”
“We received the last letter from her on February 15, 2023. Mary's lawyer is not allowed to see her, she does not receive packages. According to my knowledge, today Mary is practically starving in the colony. Weighs 45 kg with a height of 175 cm. Her illness (stomach ulcers – ed.) requires a diet, which is why she cannot eat many things from the prison menu,” her sister Tacjana Chomicz wrote recently.
She added that “feeding a person suffering from ulcers balanda (the Russian name for the so-called camp soup 'made from nothing') is torture and slow killing, and depriving them of correspondence is accelerating this death.”
All information about Marya Kalesnikava comes from “anonymous sources” because there has been no contact with her for over a year and a half. These reports also indicate that the colony staff abuses the prisoner physically and mentally. Officers allegedly told her that “everyone has forgotten about her” or tore up letters in front of her.
Kalesnikava's relatives are demanding that she be provided with adequate food, examination and treatment, as well as allowed visits and correspondence.
The release of the regime prisoner is being demanded by her relatives, human rights activists, international organizations, and Western governments. As with other political prisoners, Minsk is ignoring these appeals. According to the organization Viasna, there are currently at least 1,367 prisoners of conscience in Belarus.
Main image source: Elena Tolkachewa/TUT.by