Maria Kolesnikova: First sighting of Belarusian political prisoner in 600 days

After greater than 600 days of denied visits, calls and correspondence, the jailed Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova has been allowed to see her father in jail.

A photograph, printed on social media, reveals the activist in what seems to be a jail housecoat hugging her father.

On her face is the smile she grew to become well-known for as one of many leaders of a wave of big protests in 2020 that put the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko below unprecedented strain.

It survived by responding with mass arrests, police beatings and torture – all completely documented, however nonetheless flatly denied by officers.

A peaceable protester, Maria Kolesnikova was sentenced to 11 years for extremism and supposedly plotting to overthrow the federal government.

In September, her sister, Tatsiana, informed the BBC that she was fearful the Belarusian regime was “killing Maria slowly” in jail, the place she had been saved in punishing situations since March 2023, and was not allowed any contact with relations or legal professionals.

Tatsiana known as then for extra worldwide strain to safe her sister’s launch, and the liberty of the various different political prisoners in Belarus.

Now, she has posted the brand new jail photograph on X with the road: “I cannot believe it!”

The household haven’t but shared any details about her well being.

In an odd twist the photograph was first printed on Telegram by the previous opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, who was arrested when his Ryanair flight over Belarus was forcibly grounded. He now cooperates with the authorities, after a presidential pardon and early launch.

Mr Protasevich has given no particulars in regards to the image of Maria and her father, or the circumstances.

Alexander Lukashenko, in energy because the early Nineteen Nineties, has known as one other presidential election in January through which no real opposition candidates will probably be allowed to participate.

Recently, maybe hoping to enhance his picture, he started pardoning small teams of prisoners.

More than 70 have been let out since summer time, together with individuals jailed for collaborating within the 2020 protests, however most had been near the tip of their sentence or sick.

An announcement final week said that one other group jailed for “extremism” can be pardoned. It promised “big news”, and mentioned two ladies had been on the listing.

But Tatsiana informed the BBC that she didn’t imagine the sudden reappearance of her sister for a jail go to meant she was about to be let out.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, now in exile after running for election in opposition to Lukashenko, despatched a brief video on Telegram with greetings for “Masha”, as she known as Maria affectionately, and expressed “joy” to see her reunited along with her father.

“How happy I am to see the smile that captivated us in 2020 and stays the same despite all you’ve been through,” Tikhanovskaya mentioned.

Writing on X she added: “Now, we must keep up the pressure to break the isolation of other political prisoners & free them all!”

Tikhanovskaya’s husband, Sergei, is a kind of nonetheless in jail and has additionally been saved incommunicado for a lot of months, as produce other political prisoners together with Viktor Babaryko – one other would-be presidential candidate locked up in 2020.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Tikhanovskaya, informed the BBC that Lukashenko’s gesture to Maria was tokenism.

“Lukashenko is afraid right now to make any big moves and changes before his sham election – his self-reappointment. Just showing Maria doesn’t threaten him, but he wants to show it as a big gesture of humanity – which it’s not of course,” Mr Viacorka believes.

He put the gesture all the way down to a latest enhance in worldwide consideration and strain.

Lukashenko has been a global pariah for a few years, with the European Union condemning the 2020 election outcomes as “falsified”.

As for others nonetheless held, Mr Viacorka mentioned: “I dream of the moment my friends and colleagues are released. But I am a realist.”