Marya Kalesnikava

Marya Kalesnikava

Musician and political activist.

Marya Kalesnikava, Мары́я Кале́снікава #BelarusHeroes campaign in Prague

Highligts:

  • Member of presidential candidate team of Svietlana 
  • Member of the presidium of the Coordination Council
  • Abducted on 7 September by a group of masked men presumed to be security agents
  • Driven to the border the next day, where she was told she would be deported “alive or in bits”.
  • Refused to leave, destroyed her passport
  • Then she was put in jail

UN Human rights experts: ““It is particularly troubling that the authorities have resorted to enforced disappearances in an effort to quash protests, stifle dissent and sow fear,” the experts said. “We urge the authorities not to use national security concerns to deny individuals their fundamental rights, among others the rights to opinion, expression, of peaceful assembly and association.”

Ms. Kalesnikava, a musician and political activist, was abducted on 7 September by a group of masked men presumed to be security agents. She was driven to the border the next day, where she was told she would be deported “alive or in bits”. However, she reportedly managed to thwart deportation by ripping up her passport.

She then disappeared for three days with no information on her whereabouts or state of health. On 10 September, authorities said she was held in pre-trial detention in Minsk, and on 16 September, she was officially charged with undermining national security, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.”

Information sources:

Social networks: