TALLINN, Estonia — The final time any of Maria Kolesnikova’s household had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was greater than 18 months in the past. Fellow inmates on the penal colony reported listening to her plead for medical assist from inside her tiny and smelly cell.
Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, instructed The Associated Press by telephone from Minsk that he is aware of she’s critically in poor health and tried to go to her a number of months in the past on the facility close to Gomel, the place she is serving an 11-year sentence, however has failed each time he goes there.
On his final try, he mentioned the warden instructed him, “If she would not name or would not write, meaning she would not wish to.”
The 42-year-old musician-turned-activist is thought to have been hospitalized in Gomel in May or June, however the end result was unclear, mentioned a former prisoner who recognized herself solely as Natalya as a result of she feared retaliation from authorities.
“I can solely pray to God that she remains to be alive,” Kolesnikov mentioned in an interview. “The authorities are ignoring my requests for a gathering and for letters — it’s a horrible feeling of impotence for a father.”
Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the extensively disputed August 2020 election gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth time period in workplace. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and a gesture of forming her outstretched palms into the form of a coronary heart, she typically was seen on the entrance of the demonstrations.
She turned an excellent higher image of defiance in September of that 12 months when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from safety forces within the impartial zone on the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked again into Belarus. She was convicted a 12 months later of costs together with conspiracy to grab energy.
Natalya, whose cell was subsequent to Kolesnikova’s earlier than being launched in August, mentioned she had not heard her speaking to guards for six months. Other inmates heard Kolesnikova’s pleas for medical help, she mentioned, however reported that docs didn’t come for “a really very long time.”
In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to bear surgical procedure for a perforated ulcer. Other prisoners turn out to be conscious of her actions as a result of “it appears like martial legislation has been declared” within the cellblock, Natalya mentioned. “Other prisoners are strictly forbidden not solely to speak, however even to change glances with Maria.”
Her sister, Tatiana Khomich, mentioned she was instructed by former inmates that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed solely about 45 kilograms .
“They are slowly killing Maria, and I take into account that it is a crucial interval as a result of nobody can survive in such situations,” mentioned Khomich, who lives exterior Belarus.
The final time Kolesnikova wrote from jail was in February 2023. Letters to her “are ripped up earlier than her eyes by jail personnel,” her sister mentioned, relaying accounts from different former inmates.
Kolesnikova, who earlier than the 2020 protests was a classical flautist who was particularly knowledgable about baroque music, is considered one of a number of main Lukashenko opponents to vanish behind bars.
The prisons division of the Belarusian Interior Ministry refused to touch upon Kolesnikova’s case.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “pressing protecting measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and different political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus launch all political prisoners.
Former inmates say Kolesnikova wore a yellow tag that signifies a political prisoner. That marks them for extra abuse by guards and officers, rights advocates say.
The human rights group Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, together with the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least six have died behind bards.
“It was too late to avoid wasting Alexei Navalny , and it was too late for six individuals in Belarus. We and the Western world haven’t got a lot time to avoid wasting Maria’s life,” Khomich mentioned.
Amnesty International has begun a marketing campaign to boost consciousness about Kolesnikova’s destiny, urging individuals to take up her plight with Western officers and politicians.
Other distinguished opposition figures who’re imprisoned and haven’t been heard from in a 12 months or extra embody Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who deliberate to problem Lukashenko within the 2020 election however was imprisoned; his spouse, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place on the poll and was pressured to go away the nation the day after the vote.
Aspiring opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka additionally was imprisoned earlier than the election as his reputation amongst potential voters soared. Kolesnikova was his marketing campaign supervisor however then joined forces with Tsikhanouskaya. Prominent opposition determine Mikola Statkevich and Kolesnikova’s lawyer, Maxim Znak, are imprisoned and haven’t contacted the skin world for the reason that winter of 2023.
Lukashenko denies Belarus has any political prisoners. At the identical time, in current months he has unexpectedly launched 115 prisoners whose instances had political components; these launched had well being issues, wrote petitions for pardons and repented.
Belarus is deeply built-in with Russia and a few observers imagine Lukashenko is worried in regards to the extent of his dependence on Moscow, hoping to revive some ties with the EU by releasing political prisoners forward of a presidential election subsequent 12 months.
“Minsk is returning to the observe of bargaining with the West to attempt to soften sanctions and obtain a minimum of partial recognition of the outcomes of the upcoming presidential election,” mentioned Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman. “Lukashenko’s regime is concerned about not changing into a part of Russia and due to this fact desires a minimum of some communication with the West, providing to speak about political prisoners”
Lukashenko’s critics and human rights activists say they see no actual change in authorities coverage, since all main pro-democracy figures are nonetheless behind bars and authorities have seized 3 times as many opposition activists to refill the prisons.
“It is troublesome to contemplate these pardons as an actual thaw, for the reason that repressions proceed, however the West ought to encourage Lukashenko to proceed releasing political prisoners,” Khomich mentioned. “The regime is sending clear indicators to Western international locations about its readiness to launch individuals, and it is essential that’s heard, and the chance is seized.”
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