Act Daily News
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A outstanding Belarusian opposition determine, who has been serving an 11-year jail sentence after main mass avenue protests in opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko, is in intensive care after present process surgical procedure, an opposition spokesman stated Tuesday.
Maria Kolesnikova was taken to a hospital within the southeastern metropolis of Gomel, positioned in a surgical ward and later transferred to the intensive care unit, Gleb Germanchuk, a spokesman for Kolesnikova, advised Act Daily News. She is in a secure however “difficult state, with some improvement,” he stated.
Kolesnikova was positioned in a “punishment cell” previous to her hospitalization for not being at her jail “workplace” when she was alleged to be there, Germanchuk stated, citing her lawyer, Vladimir Pylchenko.
Worries are mounting about her well-being as Pylchenko has not been in a position to see Kolesnikova in hospital. Her lawyer couldn’t get via to her within the hospital as by the point he arrived there have been no docs left to let him in, Germanchuk stated.
Her lawyer despatched a variety of appeals to jail officers relating to issues about her well being, Germanchuk stated. Kolesnikova’s family members can’t go to her in hospital as a result of she is a prisoner, and the identical restrictions apply to her hospital keep, Germanchuk stated.
The United States Embassy in Minsk stated Tuesday it’s “closely watching” reviews of Kolesnikova’s “sudden hospitalization.”
“We hope she receives full and excellent medical care and recovers quickly,” the US Embassy tweeted. “The US remains committed to accountability for regime officials who violate human rights.”
Kolesnikova, a musician-turned-activist, was one among three girls who joined forces in 2020 to entrance the opposition’s marketing campaign in opposition to Lukashenko after outstanding male opposition candidates had been barred from the presidential race.
The trio had been the face of a protest motion that despatched tens of hundreds of Belarusians onto the streets to demand political change through the nation’s election. The demonstrators, in addition to impartial observers, alleged that the vote was rigged to increase Lukashenko’s 27-year rule.
President Lukashenko denied electoral fraud and authorities responded to the protests with a crackdown.
Kolesnikova was arrested in 2020 and brought to the border, the place she was ordered to depart the nation. Instead, she reportedly ripped up her passport, refusing to be pressured into exile.
She was charged in September 2021 with extremism and conspiring to “seize state power in an unconstitutional way,” and sentenced to 11 years in jail.
The US and a number of other European international locations have condemned the court docket’s ruling and have referred to as for Kolesnikova’s launch.
As a part of her keep in jail, Kolesnikova needed to do correctional work, which included seaming uniforms for the Belarusian military, Germanchuk stated.