BREAKING: Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova rushed to intensive care

Maria Kolesnikova, the Belarusian opposition leader, currently serving an 11-year prison sentence has been rushed to intensive care.

Maria Kolesnikova, the jailed Belarusian opposition leader, has today, Tuesday, November 29, been rushed to an intensive care unit. She was in a penal colony serving an 11-year sentence after being convicted over her political activities.

On November 22, the @politzekme Twitter site which supports political prisoners in Belarus reported that Kolesnikova had been placed in a punishment cell and that her lawyer has not been granted access on three occasions. It is not known when and for how long she was placed there. 

#Belarus: Appalling news that @by_kalesnikava is in a punishment cell & that her lawyer has not been granted access to her.

Her letter was the first #LettersFromBelarus we published. #StandWithBelarus @politzekme @BFreeTheatre https://t.co/rdMSXyVUNJ pic.twitter.com/JDJJJ4lSGs

— Index on Censorship (@IndexCensorship) November 22, 2022

They posted today saying that she had been taken in an ambulance and admitted to Homiel hospital yesterday, November 28. Maria was subsequently admitted to surgery, from where she was transferred to intensive care. This information was confirmed to her lawyer in the hospital.

In his earlier complaints to the prosecutor’s office, Kalesnikava’s lawyer had denounced the refusal to allow him to visit Maria. He indicated his fears at the time for the state of her health. There was allegedly no response to the complaints or appeals from law enforcement agencies.

Posts on Maria’s official Twitter profile have been updating the world about her situation.

This information was confirmed to the lawyer in the hospital. On November 28 the ambulance delivered Maria to hospital, were she was taken to the first surgical department and then transferred to intensive care. pic.twitter.com/TlGOVRJ7K5

— Maria Kalesnikava (@by_kalesnikava) November 29, 2022

Kalesnikava's lawyer, in his complaints to the prosecutor's office about the refusal to visit Maria indicated his fears for the state of her health. There was no response to the complaints or appeals from law enforcement agencies.

— Maria Kalesnikava (@by_kalesnikava) November 29, 2022

Here is the result of this inaction: Maria is hospitalized.

— Maria Kalesnikava (@by_kalesnikava) November 29, 2022

Kalesnikava’s hospitalisation comes days after the mysterious death of Vladimir Makei, the Belarus Foreign Minister. He passed away on Saturday 26, but no official statement has yet been released by the Minsk administration giving any explanation for his death.

Several critics of President Vladimir Putin have suggested that the FSB Russian security service poisoned Makei, who was said to have been ‘healthy’ at the time of his death.

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