An opposition leader of the protests in Belarus sentenced to 11 years in prison

(CNN) – A Belarusian court on Monday sentenced to 11 years in prison to Maria Kolesnikova, a prominent opposition figure who led the mass protests in the streets against President Alexander Lukashenko.
Kolesnikova and another opposition activist, Maxim Znak, were charged with extremism and conspiring to “unconstitutionally seize state power” in a closed-door trial in the capital Minsk, the Belarusian state media reported. Belta.

Znak, who is also a key member of the coordinating council made up of opponents of Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Kolesnikova, a musician-turned-activist, was one of three women who came together last year to spearhead the opposition campaign against Lukashenko, after prominent male opposition candidates were excluded from the presidential race.

The trio was the face of a protest movement that brought tens of thousands of Belarusians to the streets to demand political change during the country’s elections. The protesters, as well as independent observers, alleged that the vote was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s 27-year rule.

Kolesnikova was arrested in September 2020 and taken to the border, where she was ordered to leave the country. Instead, he apparently tore up his passport, refusing to go into exile.

“We demand the immediate release of Maria and Maxim, who are not guilty of anything. It is terror against Belarusians who dare to confront the regime. We will not stop until everyone is free in Belarus,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said on Twitter on Monday, Belarusian opposition leader who ran for president and led the protests alongside Kolesnikova, after the verdict was known.

Tikhanovskaya, who replaced her husband as an opposition candidate after he was imprisoned in the run-up to the vote, fled to neighboring Lithuania with her children in August 2020 after challenging the preliminary election results that gave Lukashenko. a landslide victory.

Tikhanovskaya called Kolesnikova and Znak “heroes for Belarusians.”

“The regime wants us to see them crushed and exhausted. But look: they are smiling and dancing. They know that we will release them long before these 11 years. Their sentences should not scare us: Maxim and Maria would not want this,” he added, sharing a video of the two opposition leaders stand in a glass cage for defendants in court.

Viktor Babaryka, a former banker who had tried to run against Lukashenko before being arrested and jailed, said in a post in his Telegram channel this Monday that the sentences of Kolesnikova and Znak would be appealed.

The United States and several European countries have issued statements condemning the court’s ruling and continued efforts to silence opponents of the government. Last month, President Joe Biden issued a decree against members of the Belarusian regime implicated in the repression of human rights and democracy.

Germany vowed on Monday to step up pressure against the regime if it did not change its civil rights behavior, and government spokesman Steffen Seibert called the verdicts unjustified.

UK Foreign Minister Domnic Raab said Belarus was targeting defenders of democracy and freedom by jailing two opposition figures.

The European Union demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak.