Ailing and silenced in prison, Belarus activist symbolizes the nation's repression

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova's family had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was more than 18 months ago. Fellow inmates at the penal colony reported hearing her plead for medical help from inside her tiny and smelly cell.

Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, told The Associated Press by phone from Minsk that he knows she's seriously ill and tried to visit her several months ago at the facility near Gomel, where she is serving an 11-year sentence, but has failed whenever he goes there.

On his last attempt, he said the warden told him, “If she doesn't call or doesn't write, that means she doesn't want to.”

The 42-year-old musician-turned-activist is known to have been hospitalized in Gomel in May or June, but the outcome was unclear, said a former prisoner who identified herself only as Natalya because she feared retaliation from authorities.

“I can only pray to God that she is still alive,” Kolesnikov said in an interview. “The authorities are ignoring my requests for a meeting and for letters — it is a terrible feeling of impotence for a father.”

Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the widely disputed August 2020 election gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and a gesture of forming her outstretched hands into the shape of a heart, she often was seen at the front of the demonstrations.

She became an even greater symbol of defiance in September of that year when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces in the neutral zone at the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked back into Belarus. She was convicted a year later of charges including conspiracy to seize power.

Natalya, whose cell was next to Kolesnikova’s before being released in August, said she had not heard her talking to guards for six months. Other inmates heard Kolesnikova's pleas for medical assistance, she said, but reported that doctors did not come for “a very long time.”

In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. Other prisoners become aware of her movements because “it feels like martial law has been declared" in the cellblock, Natalya said. "Other prisoners are strictly forbidden not only to talk, but even to exchange glances with Maria.”

Her sister, Tatiana Khomich, said she was told by former inmates that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed only about 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

“They are slowly killing Maria, and I consider that this is a critical period because no one can survive in such conditions,” said Khomich, who lives outside Belarus.

The last time Kolesnikova wrote from prison was in February 2023. Letters to her “are ripped up before her eyes by prison personnel,” her sister said, relaying accounts from other former inmates.

Kolesnikova, who before the 2020 protests was a classical flautist who was especially knowledgable about baroque music, is one of several major Lukashenko opponents to disappear behind bars.

The prisons department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry refused to comment on Kolesnikova’s case.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “urgent protective measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and other political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus release all political prisoners.

Former inmates say Kolesnikova wore a yellow tag that indicates a political prisoner. That marks them for additional abuse by guards and officials, rights advocates say.

The human rights group Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group's Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least six have died behind bards.

“It was too late to save Alexei Navalny (from prison in Russia), and it was too late for six people in Belarus. We and the Western world don't have much time to save Maria's life,” Khomich said.

Amnesty International has begun a campaign to raise awareness about Kolesnikova's fate, urging people to take up her plight with Western officials and politicians.

Other prominent opposition figures who are imprisoned and have not been heard from in a year or more include Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election but was imprisoned; his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place on the ballot and was forced to leave the country the day after the vote.

Aspiring opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka also was imprisoned before the election as his popularity among prospective voters soared. Kolesnikova was his campaign manager but then joined forces with Tsikhanouskaya. Prominent opposition figure Mikola Statkevich and Kolesnikova's lawyer, Maxim Znak, are imprisoned and have not contacted the outside world since the winter of 2023.

Lukashenko denies Belarus has any political prisoners. At the same time, in recent months he has unexpectedly released 115 prisoners whose cases had political elements; those released had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and repented.

Belarus is deeply integrated with Russia and some observers believe Lukashenko is concerned about the extent of his dependence on Moscow, hoping to restore some ties with the EU by releasing political prisoners ahead of a presidential election next year.

“Minsk is returning to the practice of bargaining with the West to try to soften sanctions and achieve at least partial recognition of the results of the upcoming presidential election,” said Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman. “Lukashenko’s regime is interested in not becoming part of Russia and therefore wants at least some communication with the West, offering to talk about political prisoners”

Lukashenko’s critics and human rights activists say they see no real change in government policy, since all leading pro-democracy figures are still behind bars and authorities have seized three times as many opposition activists to refill the prisons.

“It is difficult to consider these pardons as a real thaw, since the repressions continue, but the West should encourage Lukashenko to continue releasing political prisoners,” Khomich said. “The regime is sending clear signals to Western countries about its readiness to release people, and it's very important that (the signal) is heard, and the opportunity is seized.”