West cries foul as Belarus jails protest leader for 11 years

Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass street protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year, was sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison, leading to an outcry from Western countries.Kolesnikova, 39, had been detained after ripping up her passport to prevent Belarusian security forces from deporting her in a stand-off at the Ukrainian border last September.The musician-turned-politician became one of the faces of the mass opposition movement during the August 2020 presidential election, which the protesters say was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s grip on power.Lukashenko, who has denied electoral fraud, has been in office in the former Soviet republic since 1994 and has faced fresh Western sanctions since launching a violent crackdown on his opponents.Kolesnikova and another senior opposition figure, Maxim Znak, were charged with extremism and trying to seize power illegally.Both denied wrongdoing and Kolesnikova called the charges absurd.Znak was sentenced to 10 years in prison.Both prisoners will appeal the verdict, Znak’s lawyer told reporters.The European Union denounced the verdict, while Britain’s foreign minister called it an assault on defenders of democracy.“The EU deplores the continuous blatant disrespect by the Minsk regime of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Belarus,” the EU’s spokesperson said in a statement.The United States condemned the “politically motivated conviction and shameful sentencing” of the two and called the charges against them bogus, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.“These sentencings are further evidence of the regime’s total disregard for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Belarus,” he said in a statement.Poland condemned the sentencing as a crushing of human rights intended to intimidate the people of Belarus.“This repression should not go unanswered,” Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter.Belarus has denied committing human rights abuses and portrayed the protesters as bent on violent revolution, backed by foreign powers.Footage from the Sputnik Belarus channel showed the two prisoners in a glass cage ahead of the verdict.Kolesnikova raised her handcuffed hands to make her trademark heart sign and smiled for the cameras.Standing next to her, Znak pretended he was inviting an audience into a theatre.“Dear spectators, we are happy to see you,” said the 40-year-old.Exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter: “Maria & Maksim are the heroes for Belarusians. The regime wants us to see them crushed & exhausted. But look – they are smiling & dancing.”“They know – we will release them much earlier than these 11 years. Their terms shouldn’t frighten us – Maksim and Maria wouldn’t want this,” she added.The trial, which began last month, was closed to the public on national security grounds.The circumstances of the case, the investigators and the witnesses were not disclosed.Dozens of people came to the court building yesterday, according to several videos circulating on social media.Kolesnikova was among tens of thousands of people detained after the protests began.She was one of three women, all political novices, who joined forces to front last year’s election campaign against Lukashenko after higher-profile male candidates were barred from standing.Viktor Babariko, one of the men who tried to stand against Lukashenko, was jailed in July for 14 years.Kolesnikova and Znak were part of a seven-member Co-ordination Council set up in response to the disputed August election to oversee a peaceful transition of power.Western countries have piled sanctions on Lukashenko’s regime over the treatment of opposition activists.However, the strongman has shown no sign of stepping down and maintains the backing of key ally Russia.He is due in Moscow this week to meet with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.According to rights group Viasna, there were 659 political prisoners in Belarus as of yesterday, including Kolesnikova and Znak.Lukashenko faced a global outcry in May when a passenger plane was forced to land in Minsk and a dissident onboard was arrested.Belarus was again in the international spotlight in August, after an athlete said her team tried to force her to leave the Tokyo Olympics and an exiled opposition activist was found hanged in a park in Ukraine.