Trial of Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak begins in Minsk

The trial of members of the Presidium of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak began in Minsk, informs TUT.by. They are accused of calling for actions that undermine national security, conspiracy to seize state power in an unconstitutional way and create an extremist group.

The court session is held behind closed doors, but before it began, the Sputnik agency managed to shoot a video in which Maria Kolesnikova is dancing in the “aquarium” in the courtroom and showing her heart.

Maria Kolesnikova and lawyer Maksim Znak played an active role in street protests that began after the authorities announced the victory of Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential elections in August last year.

Until 2020, Maria Kolesnikova was a musician and music teacher, played the flute in orchestras of the main Belarusian theaters, from 2007 to 2019 she lived mainly in Germany. However, in 2020, banker Viktor Babariko offered her to head his presidential campaign headquarters. In the same headquarters, Maxim Znak worked as a lawyer.

After Babariko’s arrest, Kolesnikova entered the headquarters of the only candidate admitted to the elections – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. And together with Veronika Tsepkalo, whose husband was not registered as a presidential candidate, they formed a “women’s trio”, which gathered the most massive rallies in the history of many Belarusian cities, writes Russian service of the BBC.

Maria Kolesnikova was detained in early September last year. On September 8, she, together with representatives of the Coordination Council Ivan Kravtsov and Anton Rodnenkov, tried to take her out of Belarus to Ukraine, but she tore her passport and left the car to avoid forced deportation. After that, she was again detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in Belarus, charged with criminal charges. She faces a penalty of 12 years in prison.

The details of the charges are not known. The lawyers of Kolesnikova and Znak are under a nondisclosure agreement. For violation of this subscription, they may be deprived of their lawyer status. One of Kolesnikova’s defenders, lawyer Lyudmila Kazak, has already been stripped of her status with the wording “for discrediting her title.”

Even in prison, Maria Kolesnikova did not abandon her position. She demanded many times from Alyaksandr Lukashenka to stop the violence. August 3 TV channel “Rain” published letter received from Kolesnikova. In it, the oppositionist said that she refused to write a petition for pardon, since she did not consider herself guilty. “This is a gang of dastardly, cowardly thimblers and it would be strange to trust them. They always lie. Do not believe, do not be afraid, do not ask and laugh – this is my principle of communicating with them, ”explained Kolesnikova.

According to the leader of the opposition, in the pre-trial detention center she was also offered “to act in films a la Roman [Протасевич]”. Kolesnikova added that she agreed to give an interview to ONT journalist Marat Markov on condition that she tell “the shocking truth about the abduction, investigation and lawlessness in prison.”

Recall that one of the founders of the opposition Telegram channel Roman Protasevich was arrested after the Ryanair plane on which he flew from Athens to Vilnius on May 23 was landed at the Minsk airport, allegedly after receiving a message about mining. On the instructions of Alexander Lukashenko, a fighter was raised into the sky to escort the passenger plane in which Protasevich was flying. Lukashenka personally gave the command to land the plane.

In early June, the Belarusian state channel ONT showed Roman Protasevich, who said on camera that he “fully admitted” guilt under the article on organizing and preparing actions that violate public order (Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). In addition, the journalist, whose wrists showed dark marks from handcuffs, criticized the Belarusian opposition and said that he “respects” Alexander Lukashenko.