The jailed Belarusian opposition leader, Maria Kolesnikova, has been admitted to intensive care and undergone surgery but authorities have refused to say why, her family have said.
Kolesnikova’s father, Alexander Kolesnikov, said his daughter was in a grave but stable condition. The doctors did not share her diagnosis or any other details with him about the surgery, Kolesnikov said.
He said his daughter had looked energetic and cheerful when he last visited her in prison about a month ago.
Tatsiana Khomich, Kolesnikova’s sister, told the Guardian the family did not have enough information to say what may have happened to her. “They don’t tell the family anything – it’s awful,” she said by telephone from France. “They’re hiding information from us.”
The press service of Viktor Babaryko, another opposition politician, said it had heard reports that Kolesnikova had a perforated ulcer but called this information “unconfirmed”.
Kolesnikova’s lawyer said she had been placed in a penitentiary cell before she was taken to the hospital. He did not elaborate on her condition.
Khomich said the lawyer had been informed that Kolesnikova had been charged with three violations of prison conduct. “She is clearly under psychological pressure,” she said, pointing to efforts to block Kolesnikova’s visits with family, prevent her from receiving correspondence and limit her access to physical exercise and interactions with other inmates.
The lawyer said that authorities had repeatedly rejected his requests to see Kolesnikova at the prison at which she was being held.
Kolesnikova was one of three female leaders, with Veronika Tsepkalo and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who led historic demonstrations against the Belarusian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, in 2020. Massive rallies broke out across Belarus against Lukashenko’s claim to a sixth presidential term.
She was jailed for 11 years after resisting expulsion from Belarus. In September 2020, the country’s KGB security service drove her to the Ukrainian border after putting a sack over her head and pushing her into a minibus. Kolesnikova then ripped up her passport so she could not be deported.
Lukashenko’s crackdown on the protests led to thousands of arrests and the forced exile or imprisonment of activists and journalists.
“What terrible news. Our dear Masha, we all hope that you will be all right!” said Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the opposition in exile. Kolesnikova, 40, is the only one of the three women still in Belarus.
The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
