ask for pardon from the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for those crimes that did not make it meaningless. This was stated by the member of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Opposition of Maria Kolesnikov, convicted for 11 years for the preparation of the state coup, in conversation with RBC.
According to the opposition, the Belarusian authorities more than once suggested to write a petition for pardon, to play in documentary cinema or to interview the state television channel to achieve a reduction in the sentence, but she responded with refusal. She noted that her family was also offered to leave Belorussia
“This is evidence that the government does not understand that the problem is not in me and in Maxim [Sign], the problem is that the power has lost legitimacy, trust in the eyes of the Belarusians,” Kolesnikov emphasized. She also called the prosecution with her by the court “complete Ahinea, compiled by unknown accommodation with grammatical and logical rules.”
On September 6, Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim sign were sentenced by the court to 11 and 10 years of imprisonment in the case of a conspiracy in order to capture the authorities and the creation of extremist formation. Their defense filed an appeal on the sentence.
In 2020, Kolesnikova headed Viktor Babarico’s electoral headquarters, who was considered the main rival of Alexander Lukashenko in the elections of the head of state. Two months before the vote, Babarico was arrested. In September 2020, Belarusian security forces kidnapped Kolesnikov in the center of Minsk. After that, she was arrested and sent to the SIZO.