News
The father of Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kalesnikava, Alexander, was allowed to see his daughter in prison, reported Viktar Babaryka’s Telegram channel. Viktar Babaryka is a former Belarusian banker and presidential candidate who is currently serving 14 years in a medium-security penal colony.
“She's alive, she's lost weight and doesn't yet have much strength,” the channel reported.
The 10-minute visit took place under the supervision of a doctor and penal colony staff. Over the weekend, Maria was transferred from the hospital emergency room in Homel back to the colony. She is currently in a medical inpatient facility, where she will spend at least another 10 days. Her diagnosis, as stated by doctors, was a perforated ulcer.
Kalesnikava asked to give “huge thanks” to the doctors of the hospital ambulance who saved her life.
On November 28, Kalesnikava, sentenced to 11 years in prison in Belarus, was taken to the intensive care unit. Her lawyer learned about her hospitalisation on the following day, November 29. Earlier, he was forbidden from visiting Kolesnikova in the penal colony, due to the “lack of an appropriate application.”
On November 22, reports revealed that Kalesnikava had been placed in a punishment cell. Her lawyer was denied a visitation, which was also justified by the lack of an application. According to Babaryka, three penalties were imposed on Maria: on November 9 and 10 she was allegedly in the wrong place during working hours, and on November 11, she was allegedly treated prison staff “impolitely.”
A Belarusian court sentenced Kalesnikava to 11 years in prison on charges of establishing an extremist group, public calls for harm to national security and conspiracy to seize power unconstitutionally. Kalesnikava is serving her sentence in Homel penal colony No. 4 (IK-4).