Imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, who was hospitalized last week due to a “puncture wound”, returned “this weekend” to the prison infirmary where she is being held, supporters of the representative of the 2020 uprising against the controversial re-election of Oleksandr Lukashenko said this, News reports. ro with a link to AFP.

40-year-old Maria Kolesnikova “was transferred from the Gomel hospital to the prison (where she is imprisoned) this weekend,” announced on Monday evening in a message published in the telegram of Viktor Babariko, another imprisoned Belarusian dissident, whose right-hand man was opponent.

“Now she is in the infirmary of the colony,” where “doctors are watching her for at least ten days,” the report says.

The father of the political opponent was able to visit her “for ten minutes”, reports the same source.

“Masha (the diminutive of Maria) has lost weight, she is still thin,” says Babariko.

Maria Kolesnikova was operated on last week after an emergency hospitalization in Gomel in southeastern Belarus.

Doctors have diagnosed a “ruptured ulcer” that needs immediate help, Viktor Babariko said on Monday.

On December 1, her supporters said that Maria Kolesnikova “got better.”

A former professional musician, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September 2021 for “conspiracy” against the government, “calling for actions affecting national security” and “creating an extremist group”.

Maria Kolesnikova was imprisoned in September 2020 after she effectively resisted attempts to deport her from Belarus.

According to her relatives, the Belarusian special services (KGB) kidnapped her and took her to the border with Ukraine.

But she jumped out of the car window and tore up her passport, because of which she was arrested.

Maria Kolesnikova was one of three women who led the 2020 protest movement in Belarus, along with Svitlana Tikhanouskaya, who ran for president in place of her imprisoned husband, and Veronika Tsepkalo.

Tikhanovska and Tsepkalo fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.

The protest, which mobilized tens of thousands of demonstrators, was gradually suppressed by thousands of arrests, forced exiles and heavy prison terms for some activists and journalists.

France demands release

On the other hand, on Tuesday, France confirmed its support for the Belarusian opposition Maria Koleniskova and expressed concern about her health and the conditions in which she is being held.

“France is very concerned about the state of health and the conditions of detention of Ms. Maria Kolesnikova,” the spokeswoman of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anne-Claire Legendre, emphasized in a statement.

She emphasized that the opponent “needs to receive proper medical supervision and protect her lawyers.”

“France asks the Belarusian authorities to unconditionally and immediately release all persons who are unjustly detained in Belarus, and condemns the ongoing repression of the Belarusian authorities against its population,” the Quai d’Orsay spokeswoman said in a statement.

Last week, the European Union (EU) demanded the immediate release of Maria Kolesnikova.