Imprisoned Belarus activist resurfaces after no contact with her family for 20 months

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova has resurfaced after more than 20 months without any communication with relatives or friends and met with her father, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Kolesnikova, one of the most popular and charismatic figures who helped lead protests of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, was last heard from in February 2023.

The 42-year-old musician-turned activist, who suffered a serious illness and underwent surgery while in prison, has been serving her 11-year sentence at a facility near Gomel.

Viasna, Belarus’ leading rights group, said Kolesnikova met her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, at a prison hospital.

Raman Pratasevich, a former opposition journalist who later became a government supporter after he was arrested, on Tuesday released photos of smiling Kolesnikova embracing her father, who previously had been denied permission to see her. He said the meeting took place Tuesday, but it was not immediately possible to verify the photos or when they might have been taken.

Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the widely disputed August 2020 election gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and trademark 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 resistance the next month 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.

In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. Former inmates told her sister, Tatiana Khomich, that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed only about 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

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

Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least seven have died behind bars.

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.

Lukashenko, who is seeking a seventh term in an election set for January 2025, has released 146 political prisoners since July. Those freed had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and repented. At the same time, Belarusian authorities have launched a new wave of arrests, seeking to uproot any sign of dissent before the election.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition-leader-in-exile, told The Associated Press that she was happy that Kolesnikova was allowed to see her father and reaffirmed a demand that she and other political prisoners be released.

“We must to keep pressing for an end to the isolation of other political prisoners and their release,” said Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is serving a 19 1/2-year prison sentence and has been held incommunicado for more than 20 months.

Pavel Sapelka of Viasna said allowing Kolesnikova to see her father could be a signal from Lukashenko that he’s “ready to start a conversation about the fate of other political prisoners.”

“Lukashenko is waiting for Western reaction to the latest steps and is prepared to bargain ahead of January’s election,” Sapelka said.