According to the words of the Federal Minister of the Interior, Germany will become Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) are taking in two prominent opposition figures from Belarus who were recently released from prison. It is about Maria Kolesnikova and ex-presidential candidate Viktor Babariko, said Dobrindt in the ARD “Report from Berlin”. The portal “tageschau.de” also reported this.
“We have a great interest in strengthening this democracy movement, even if it now has to develop further outside of Belarus,” explained the Federal Interior Minister. “And that’s why we’re going to take in two of the outstanding politicians, opposition politicians, who were in prison today.”
A few years ago, Kolesnikova worked as a cultural manager in Stuttgart for a long time and speaks fluent German. In the “Tagesthemen” interview that was broadcast that evening, she did not discuss a possible long-term stay in Germany. She said she doesn’t have a plan for the future yet. But she believes that at some point she will Belarus will return, even if it is difficult to imagine right now. The imprisonment was difficult for her health, but not for her psyche, because: “I was always free inside.”
Released under US pressure
On Saturday the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko According to official information, 123 political prisoners were released, including Kolesnikova and Babariko. Lukashenko’s press service in Minsk said the release took place “within the framework of the agreements reached with US President Donald Trump and at his request.” More than 100 prisoners were taken by bus out of the country to Ukraine. Kolesnikova was among them.
Shortly before Dobrindt’s announcement, Kolesnikova had declared her intention to leave Ukraine. «I think that I will not stay in Ukraine because I can live in another country. My sister is in Europe and my family is also in other countries,” said the opposition figure at a press conference in Kiev. Babariko, who was also present at the press conference, had no such plans yet.
Kolesnikova was one of the leaders of the mass protests after the 2020 presidential election, which was overshadowed by unprecedented allegations of manipulation. The ruler Lukashenko suppressed the protests. Kolesnikova was arrested in September 2020 and a year later sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiracy to overthrow the country. She was considered a political prisoner.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251214-930-423612/3
