The last time anyone in the family of convicted Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova communicated with her was a year and a half ago, her relatives, including her father and sister, told The Associated Press. Deprived of their freedom in her prison colony, they reported hearing her pleading for medical help from her small, smelly cell, the AP said.
The father of the musician – Alexander Kolesnikov, told the AP by phone from Minsk that he was aware of her poor health and that he had been trying to see her at the colony near the city of Gomel, where she is serving an 11-year sentence. However, he was never allowed to see his daughter.
According to Kolesnikov, during his last attempt to visit, the warden told him: "If she doesn't write or call, then she just doesn't want to.
The 42-year-old flautist is known to have been hospitalized in May or June this year, but it is unclear what happened, a former inmate who identified herself only as Natalia for fear of persecution told the AP by the authorities to export information.
"I can only pray to God that she is still alive," Maria's father declares. Kolesnikova rose to prominence during the mass protests that followed the disputed August 2020 presidential election that gave Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term as head of state.
The musician will be remembered as a face on the front lines of the protest with her iconic short haircut, her big smile and the heart sign she always makes with her palms, notes the AP, adding that she will forever remain a symbol of resistance against Lukashenko in September 2020, when the authorities tried to deport her.
After being driven to the border with Ukraine, she managed to briefly break away from her guards, tear up her passport in a show of force at the neutral border zone and return back to Belarus. A year later, she was charged with a number of charges, including plotting a coup.
In November 2022, Kolesnikova was transferred to an intensive care unit to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. The other prisoners are aware when there is movement around her because they "feel like martial law has been declared," Natalia notes.
"The others are strictly forbidden not just to talk, but to exchange glances with her,", she says.
Kolesnikova's sister – Tatiana Homich says that she knows from other prisoners that Maria, who is about 175 centimeters tall, weighs only 45 kilograms.
"They are slowly killing Maria, and I think this is a critical period because no one can survive in such conditions," said Homich, who lives outside Belarus.
The last time Kolesnikova wrote from prison was in February 2023. The letters to her “were torn up in front of her eyes by the prison staff,”, her sister also stated, relaying stories of former prisoners.
Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko denies that there are political prisoners in Belarus, AP recalls. At the same time, in recent months he unexpectedly released 115 prisoners whose cases were politically motivated. According to data from the authorities, those freed had health problems, wrote requests for pardon and repented.
Political observers believe Lukashenko is troubled by his degree of dependence on Moscow, at a time when he hopes to restore some ties with the EU by freeing political prisoners before next year's presidential election.
"Minsk is returning to the practice of bargaining with the West in order to try to soften the sanctions and guarantee from now on at least partial recognition of the results of the upcoming presidential elections,' is the opinion of Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman, quoted by AP.
"Lukashenko's regime is interested in not becoming part of Russia and therefore wants at least some communication with the West, offering talks about political prisoners,”, he adds.