Jailed protest leader says opponents trying to steal country

September 7, BPN. Opponents are trying to steal the country from Belarusians, protest leader Maryja Kaleśnikava has said in an address marking the second anniversary since she was abducted by law enforcers.

“A lot has changed in two years,” she wrote, as quoted by former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka’s Telegram channel. “A catastrophe is happening. They abduct us from each other, steal our history and future and attempt to steal our country from us.”

She added that freedom, love and self-esteem cannot be stolen or killed even in the darkest times.

Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja addressed Kaleśnikava on Telegram by saying: “They are trying to hide you from people and hide people from you, so that you begin to regret making this choice. But I know that you have no regrets.”

Kaleśnikava was taken into custody on September 8, 2020. One day earlier, security forces abducted her in the center of Minsk and tried to force her out of the country, but she tore her passport at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

On September 6, 2021 the Minsk Regional Court’s Judge Siarhiej Jepichaŭ found her guilty of conspiring to seize power, creating an extremist formation and calling to undermine national security, and sentenced her to 11 years in prison.

The Committee for the State Security (KGB) included Kaleśnikava in the list of persons it links to terrorist activities. According to Babaryka’s headquarters, she had lodged an appeal, but on July 5, 2022 it was rejected by a court.

Kaleśnikava has been held in Homiel’s Correctional Colony No 4 since January 9.