Maria Kolesnikova had refused to be forced out of Belarus even after the abduction.
MOSCOW – A leading opposition figure in Belarus, which helped lead mass protests against authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko last year, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Minsk court.
Maria Kolesnikova was one of three women at the helm of the huge peaceful protests that threatened to end Lukashenko’s 26-year rule last summer, but have since been stifled by relentless repression. .
Most of the main opposition figures, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has become the main leader of the movement, were forced into exile shortly after the protests began last August, sparked by Lukashenko who claimed victory in a presidential election widely condemned internationally for being manipulated.
But Kolesnikova refused to go into exile, even when Lukashenko reaffirmed his control. Last September, security forces abducted her on the streets of the capital Minsk and drove her to the border with Ukraine, where they tried to deport her by force. But Kolesnikova resisted the attempt, snatching her passport to prevent her deportation and refusing to go there, despite knowing she had some imprisonment in Belarus.
A Minsk court on Monday sentenced her to 11 years in prison, along with another prominent activist, Maxim Znak, after convicting them of extremist charges and illegally attempting to seize power.
He and Kolesnikova were members of the Opposition Coordinating Council that was founded during the protests to demand a peaceful handover of power to Lukashenko.
His trial was held behind closed doors without any public evidence and both had pleaded guilty, denouncing the charges as politicians.
The sentences follow months of intense repression in Belarus, as the Lukashenko regime has tried to destroy any organized dissent after escaping the protests. Most independent media and human rights groups have been shut down and hundreds arrested and dozens already sentenced. Virtually all major opposition figures are now imprisoned or in exile.
Western countries quickly condemned Monday’s verdict and the United States and the European Union demanded his immediate release.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken considered the sentences to be “shameful” and based on “false” charges.
“We reiterate our call for an end to the campaign of repression against the people of Belarus for the exercise of their human rights inside and outside Belarus and for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Ms Kalesnikava and Mr. Znak, “Blinken said in a statement.
Kolesnikova and a heart-shaped hand shape became symbols of the protest movement. She and Tikhanovskaya were also seen as emblematic of the key role women played in the protests that took hundreds of thousands of people to the streets. During the demonstrations, women who wore flowers and dressed in red and white (the colors of the protests) often formed peaceful human chains, which forced riot police to retreat.
The court video on Monday showed Kolesnikova smiling and shaping her heart with her hands in handcuffs as she stood in a glass cage.
Kolesnikova had been a professional flutist before taking part in politics for the first time last year when she became the spokeswoman for Viktor Babriko, an energy executive who tried to run against Lukashenko in the election.
After Babriko was imprisoned before the vote on allegations of fraud, which was criticized as political, she became associated with Tikhanovskaya, who had intervened to replace her own husband as a candidate who was also imprisoned.
“Maria and Maksim are the heroes of the Belarusians” Tikhanovskaya wrote on Twitter following the verdicts.
“The regime wants us to see them crushed and exhausted,” he wrote, pointing to the video showing Kolesnikova and Znak smiling. “But look, they smile and dance. You know, we’ll release them long before these 11 years. Their terms shouldn’t scare us; Maksim and Maria wouldn’t want that.”