This story by Daria Dergacheva originally appeared on Global Voices on February 13, 2026.
The latest US-negotiated release of political prisoners from Belarus in December 2025, included high level political figures from the 2020 Belarus protests, and among them, Maria Kalesnikava.
Who is Maria Kalesnikava?
Kalesnikava had for a long time been the second after Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya, a symbolic figure of Belarusian protests and opposition forces. She entered Belarusian politics shortly before the 2020 presidential election by joining the campaign team of banker and philanthropist Viktor Babariko, who was considered Lukashenka’s main rival in the upcoming vote. In June 2020, writes Meduza, a month and a half before the election, Viktor Babariko and his son Eduard were detained. After that, Kalesnikava became the face of Babariko’s campaign. She teamed up with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the only opposition candidate allowed to run,and together they traveled around the country holding rallies (permitted as part of the official campaign).
The presidential election 2020 in Belarus took place on August 9. Lukashenka was declared the winner; Tsikhanouskaya was forced to leave for Lithuania; large protests started and were suppressed by force in Belarus. In September 2020, security forces attempted to deport Kalesnikava to Ukraine, but she tore up her passport right at the border, Meduza reminds us. Kalesnikava was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison in a case over an alleged attempt to seize power.
Kalesnikava and Babariko both served their sentences under extremely harsh conditions, in isolation from the outside world, under pressure from prison authorities and without access to proper medical care. It was reported that the elder Babariko was beaten, hospitalized, and sent to a punishment cell. Kalesnikova was also hospitalized in prison.