Maria Kolesnikova accused of causing harm to Belarus

She is now under arrest.

Maria Kolesnikova joined the Presidium of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Opposition, created on August 18, which was soon accused of trying to seize power. The current long-term head of state, Alexander Lukashenko, was officially declared the winner of the presidential election; the Belarusian opposition did not recognize these election results, calling them falsified. Thousands of protests began in the country.

By now, practically all members of the Presidium of the Coordination Council have either been detained or were forced to go abroad under pressure. Maria Kolesnikova was actually abducted in the center of Minsk on September 7, the whole day nothing was known about her fate. The next day she was "found" on the border with Ukraine, she was also forced to leave, but she tore her passport and remained in Belarus. On September 9, the Investigative Committee of Belarus announced that Maria Kolesnikova had been arrested in connection with calls for the seizure of power.

As reported by the Interfax agency, today the investigation filed an official charge against Maria Kolesnikova of causing harm to the national security of Belarus (part 3 of article 361 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (calls for actions aimed at causing harm to national security, committed using the media and the Internet).

Maria Kolesnikova remains in custody. Her lawyer Lyudmila Kazak previously stated that her client regards what was happening to her as a kidnapping, and the accusation itself is absurd and politically motivated. Maria Kolesnikova herself wrote a statement to the Investigative Committee of Belarus. She asks to initiate a criminal case against the security officials who detained her. According to her, they threatened her with a murder, as well as with a long-term imprisonment.