Reuters news agency is reporting the encouraging news that jailed Belarusian dissident Maria Kalesnikava, a key figure in the opposition movement to President Alexander Lukashenko, was permitted to meet her father on Tuesday, the first time any picture of her has been seen in well over a year. Maria is one of the four special prisoners of conscience whose cases we are highlighting here in Stratford on Avon in this year's Write for Rights Campaign (See cases below)  and we dare to hope that the start of the campaign has contributed to the easing of her isolation. To find our more and discover ways to support her further follow this link.

A picture of Kalesnikava with her father appeared on the Telegram messaging app, posted by Roman Protasevich, a former jailed dissident who now says he is acting as an intermediary between authorities and Belarusians living in exile abroad.

"I think that's the result of the international campaign for Maria and international pressure and solidarity of course."

Viacorka said he saw no sign that Kalesnikava or other leading opposition figures would soon be released.

"It's rather an attempt of Lukashenko to show sort of humanity," he said. "It's crazy, you know, when such situations happen - we're happy that someone is alive."

Maryia Kalesnikava is a prominent political activist, protest leader and musician that in 2020 became the symbol of the peaceful protest movement for political change and human rights in Belarus after many political opponents were arbitrarily arrested or arbitrarily disqualified as candidates from the presidential election on 9 August. Together with Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Veranika Tsapkala, Maryia Kalesnikava formed an all-female trio who led an electoral challenge to, and galvanized mass protest vote against, the incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka. 

Veranika Tsapkala left Belarus on 9 August 2020 for fear of reprisals. Following Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s forced exile on 10 August 2020, Maryia Kalesnikava emerged as the highest-profile opposition figure in Belarus. She appeared on the frontline of numerous peaceful protests, repeatedly confronted abusive police officers, gave numerous media interviews and continued to support individuals who were arbitrarily detained and tortured in detention. 

Maryia Kalesnikava was forcibly disappeared on 7 September 2020. It transpired later that she was abducted by law enforcement officers and taken to the border with Ukraine where she refused to leave Belarus and tore her passport in protest. She was then placed in detention as a criminal suspect together with her close associate Maksim Znak, and later convicted in closed trial of crimes against the state. 

Maryia Kalesnikava’s condition of detention, including incommunicado detention, prolonged solitary confinement and denial of medical care, are in reprisal for her prominent role in the peaceful protests against the authorities. According to international human rights standards, incommunicado detention where an individual is detained without access to the outside world should be prohibited altogether. Incommunicado detention facilitates torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance. Depending on the circumstances, it can itself constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Also, under international human rights law, prolonged solitary confinement amounts to torture when the individual is confined for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact for a time period in excess of 15 consecutive days.  

Maryia Kalesnikova’s family last heard from her in February 2023. Since then, she has not been allowed calls, visits or even letters. The authorities have also targeted lawyers who agreed to represent those in detention, including by arbitrarily disbarring three lawyers in retaliation for representing Maryia Kalesnikova: Aliaksandr Pylchenka, Liudmila Kazak, and Uladzimir Pylchenka. Currently, Maryia Kalesnikova has no legal representation.