Leading figure in Belarus anti-government protests being ‘tortured in every possible way’ in prison

Maria Kalesnikava, one of the jailed leaders of the 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus, is being “tortured in every possible way”, according to a source who spoke to independent Belarusian news outlet Novy Chas on Wednesday.

Kalesnikava was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September 2021 for being part of the Opposition Coordination Council, a body created in 2020 to oppose the regime of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

According to Novy Chas, prison staff have been tearing letters sent to Kalesnikava by her family up in front of her since October, and despite repeatedly asking for medical assistance, she has been denied access to doctors.

“When Maria Kalesnikava is taken somewhere, the entire prison is locked down. It feels like martial law,” the source told Novy Chas said, adding that prison staff were using methods of psychological torture on other political prisoners too, including human rights activist Anastasia Loyko, who was lied to and told that her dog had died.

Kalesnikava is believed to be serving her sentence in a penal colony in the city of Homyel, one of two women’s prisons in Belarus, where inmates regularly have their human rights violated, according to Belarusian non-profit organisation Our House.

The Belarusian service of Radio Liberty reported in April that Kalesnikava had been held in a solitary confinement cell for almost a year, which in Belarus involves being denied a mattress, blanket, pillow, bed linen, or warm clothing.