TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — It’s been 434 days since the family of imprisoned Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova heard from her, her relatives said Wednesday, on the activist’s 42nd birthday.
Kolesnikova, who is serving 11 years in prison for helping organize anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, and other imprisoned opposition figures have been held incommunicado for months on end, raising fears for their well-being.
“It’s the fourth birthday that Maria spends behind bars, and recently we received information that her health is deteriorating and we don’t know if she’s being treated at all,” her sister Tatsiana Khomich told Belarusian media. Khomich added that the last letter the family received from Kolesnikova came in February 2023, and bits and pieces of news about her trickle through other inmates.
Belarus was rocked by mass protests after an election in 2020 that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office — a vote that was denounced by the West and the opposition as fraudulent. Authorities responded by arresting more than 35,000 people and brutally beating thousands of them. Many top opposition figures were arrested and given long prison terms, while others fled abroad.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands braves the wind in a very eye
Ivy Getty and Tobias Engel divorce: Inside the couple's 3
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 32,414
China ready to work with neighboring countries to expand convergence of interests: spokesperson
The human foods that could be making your dog fat, revealed
China condemns attack on Iranian embassy in Syria
More homes flooded in Russian region bordering Kazakhstan, other areas
Red Sox's Tyler O'Neill left needing stitches after brutal collision with teammate Rafael Devers
Wisconsin prison inmate pleads not guilty to killing cellmate
Mideast countries call for restraint after Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel
Ancestry website cataloguing names of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II
ITV are quietly shelving a popular spin