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The main opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova is accused of conspiring to seize power during anti-government protests.
The main members of the Belarusian opposition stand on trial on Wednesday as part of a multi-pronged approach Suppress dissent In this former Soviet country, a controversial presidential election triggered months of protests.
Maria Kolesnikova, a senior member of the opposition coordination committee, has been detained since his arrest in September.
She was accused of conspiring to seize power, creating an extremist organization, and calling for actions that undermine national security.
The trial of Kolesnikova and lawyer Maxim Znak started behind closed doors in the Minsk District Court, the capital of Belarus. The latter is another key member of the coordination committee and faces the same charges.
If convicted, they could face up to 12 years in prison.
Kolesnikova helped coordinate the opposition protests that erupted after the August 2020 presidential election. She rejected attempts by the authorities to force her to leave the country.
In September, when officials of the Belarusian security agency drove her to the border with Ukraine and forcibly expelled her, she tore up her passport and walked back to Belarus to face arrest.
“Freedom is worth fighting for. Don’t be afraid to be free,” she wrote in a prison message relayed by her lawyer last year. “I don’t regret anything, I will do the same thing again.”
Just before her trial began, Kolesnikova said in a note from the prison that if she asked for a pardon and accepted a confession interview by the official media, the authorities would release her.
She insisted that she was innocent and rejected the offer.
Protest prompted suppression
Just when Kolesnikova and Znak were on trial, the Belarusian Olympic sprinter Flew After a dispute with the coach, her team officials refused to forcibly send her back to Belarus, and she traveled from Tokyo to Europe.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a 24-year-old runner, said that if she returned to her home country, she might be in danger.
Belarus was shaken by months of protests triggered by President Alexander Lukashenko’s sixth term after voting last year. The opposition and the West condemned this as a hoax.
He carried out a large-scale suppression of demonstrations. More than 35,000 people were arrested and thousands were beaten by the police.
In recent weeks, the authorities have increased the pressure on dissidents, targeting independent journalists and democracy activists in hundreds of raids.
On Wednesday, the Belarusian National Security Agency, still named after the Soviet-era KGB, arrested Uladzimir Matskevich, a professor of philosophy who founded a top independent university, after raided his apartment in Minsk.
Matskevich’s colleague Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya, a member of the opposition coordination committee, and Ulad Vialichka, the former head of the European Belarusian NGO, were also arrested after searching their apartment.
The Viasna Human Rights Center stated that the authorities accused them of undermining national security and inciting conflict.
On Tuesday, the Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov was found hanged in Ukraine in a park in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. He runs an organization in Ukraine to help Belarusians escape persecution. Ukrainian police have launched an investigation to investigate whether the case was suicide or a murder disguised as suicide.
Ukrainian President Zelensky on Wednesday ordered the country’s law enforcement agencies to better protect Belarusians seeking asylum in Ukraine.
“Every Belarusian who might be a target of criminals because of his political stance must be particularly reliable protection,” Zelensky said.
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