Maria Kolesnikova: the Belarusian activist taking a stand against President Lukashenko
The Belarusian opposition member gains hero status in the mass protest movement following the country’s recent election, which saw “Europe’s last dictator” reinstated in power.
Photo by Jana Shnipelson on Unsplash
Maria Kolesnikova, the Belaursian opposition politician, has recently been imprisoned after tearing up her passport to avoid deportation. Kolesnikova, along with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader, and Veronika Tsepkalo, political activist, created the Coordination Council in August this year, following widespread national protests demanding Alexander Lukashenko resign as president after 26 years in office.
The Coordination Council was created “to organise the process of overcoming the political crisis and ensure social cohesion, as well as protect the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Belarus”. The Council’s website also stipulates that it “doesn’t aim to seize power through unconstitutional means and doesn’t call for organisation or preparation of actions that violate public order.”
The results of August’s presidential election, in which Lukashenko was awarded 80 per cent of the vote, giving him a sixth term in office, faced weeks of demonstrations. Many Belarusians believe that the results were falsified.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader, fled Belarus following her defeat in the election and sought refuge in neighbouring Lithuania. The opposition figurehead says she was threatened by Lukashenko’s regime. Ms Tsikhanouskaya claims that she won 60 to 70 per cent of votes in places where ballots were counted correctly and impartially. Her fellow council member, Veronika Tsepkalo, arrived in Poland with her husband and children after the election. Maria Kolesnikova, however, remained in Belarus. The activist said her “civic actions were not part of a political programme” and that she “made a decision in May [to stay in Belarus].”
In the early hours of Monday September 7, Belarusian authorities attempted to force Kolesnikova out of the country. Ms Kolesnikova claims that she was forced into a van by masked men on a street in Minsk and subsequently driven more than 200 miles to the Ukrainian border. In a statement made through her lawyer, the opposition member described how security officers then threatened her with expulsion from Belarus “alive or in bits”. It was then that the activist “prevented officials from forcibly expelling her to Ukraine by tearing up her passport and throwing it out of a car window.” The other Coordination Council members who travelled with her, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, crossed the Ukrainian border and later gave a press conference in Kiev about the events and Ms Kolesnikova.
The Ukrainian deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, added in a Facebook post that Rodnenkov and Kravtov’s entry into Ukraine “wasn’t a voluntary trip”, but lauded Kolesnikova as a “brave woman [who] took action to prevent her movement across the border”. Gerashchenko also stated that “All responsibility for her [Kolesnikova’s] life and health is personally carried by Alexander Lukashenko.”
On September 16, the Belarusian Investigative Committee charged Ms Kolesnikova with “actions aimed at undermining national security”, a crime that carries up to five years in prison. Ms Kolesnikova was “suffering from allergies in prison but remains in good spirits”, according to Lyudmila Kazak, the 38-year-old activist’s lawyer.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, took to Twitter to express his concern for Ms Kolesnikova, writing that Lukashenko’s regime “must cease brutalising protestors, release political prisoners and begin dialogue with the opposition.” Meanwhile, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo called on Belarusian authorities “to end the violence against their own people, release all those who have been unjustly detained … and engage in meaningful dialogue with genuine representatives of Belarusian society.”
Protest rally in Minsk, August 30. Photo by Natallia Rak on Flickr
Kolesnikova was trained as a flautist at the Belarusian State Academy of Music and later moved to Germany to pursue a career in music. Martin Schüttler, a professor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, where Kolesnikova studied, met the aspiring musician at a series of concerts that she organised in Minsk. Schüttler remembered her as an "incredibly strong personality", who was also "unbelievably optimistic, hands-on, active and full of energy."
Artists have rallied behind Ms Kolesnikova, with musicians in Germany taking part in a solidarity rally in Stuttgart in support of her defiance on September 13. Natasha Lopez, who studied alongside Kolesnikova in Stuttgart, recalls a performance titled “No Voice - No Body” given by herself and Ms Kolesnikova in July 2019 dedicated to the themes of power and liberty. The piece entails Kolesnikova playing the flute whilst actors attempt to disarm her of the instrument, and reels of footage of protests in Belarus are projected onto a backdrop. These are followed by excerpts of Kolesnikova’s protest speech, in which she states, “There is no such thing as pure liberty. The decision to be free requires taking responsibility for yourself. Being free is harder than simply accepting what exists.”
Ms Kolesnikova remains jailed in the Belarusian capital. All senior members of the Coordination Council have been jailed or forcibly removed from the country except for the 2015 Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich. Protestors have not been dissuaded by Kolesnikova’s arrest; instead, they took to the streets, with dozens of female demonstrators being violently detained. Council member Veronika Tsepkalo has stated that “the Belarus nation will never give up … we want another president, new free elections and all political detainees to be released as soon as possible.” As support for Kolesnikova swells and loyalty to Lukashenko dwindles, the future of Belarus hangs in the balance.