{"id":5382,"date":"2024-11-28T17:57:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T10:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/?post_type=petition&p=5382"},"modified":"2025-02-24T11:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T04:22:27","slug":"abducted-and-jailed-for-demanding-change","status":"publish","type":"petition","link":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/petition\/abducted-and-jailed-for-demanding-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Abducted and jailed for demanding change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Abducted and jailed for demanding change<\/h1>\n\t<\/header>\n\n\t
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Political activist Maryia Kalesnikava challenged the repressive Belarus government. On 7 September 2020, Maryia was abducted by the Belarus authorities, detained, and later sentenced to 11 years in prison on false charges. Maryia\u2019s family haven\u2019t heard from her for over a year. Sign the petition and help bring her home.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A professional musician, Maryia Kalesnikava has filled her life with music and art. She\u2019s passionate about meeting people and learning from them, and dreams of a Belarus where everyone is respected and allowed to speak freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 presidential elections all the leading male candidates due to run against current president Alyaksandr Lukashenka were jailed or forced to flee the country and so Maryia joined the campaign of independent presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election was widely believed to have been rigged and Alyaksandr Lukashenka returned for his sixth term. Following the election, Svyatlana was forced into exile and Maryia emerged as the highest profile opposition figure. She stood at the front line of peaceful protests, confronting abusive police officers, and making a heart-shaped symbol with her hands in front of riot police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 7 September 2020, Maryia was abducted by the Belarus authorities. Dragged into a van by masked men, she was taken to the border where she was intimidated and pressured to leave the country. She escaped through the van\u2019s window and tore up her passport to resist deportation. Maryia was arrested, detained, and later sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges including \u201cundermining national security\u201d and \u201cextremism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maryia is imprisoned in appalling conditions. She has limited access to the healthcare she needs. She is isolated from other inmates inside the prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do to help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sign the petition and demand Maryia is immediately released from prison, and that her unjust conviction is overturned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ THE PETITION LETTER BELOW<\/summary>\n

Minister of Foreign Affairs  
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus\u202f  
vul. Lenina 19\u202f\u202f  
220030,\u202fMinsk  
Republic of Belarus\u202f  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Minister <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am calling on you to take all necessary steps to immediately release Maryia Kalesnikava, who has been arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted under trumped-up charges. Maryia has been sentenced to 11 years in prison simply for exercising her right to freedom of expression and association, speaking out against arbitrary arrests and abuses of the electoral process during the widely disputed presidential election in Belarus in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, I demand that all necessary measures are taken to protect Maryia from torture and other ill-treatment, provide her with access to adequate healthcare, allow her contact with her lawyers and family, overturn her unjust conviction, and delete her name from the government\u2019s list of individuals involved in \u201cterrorist activities\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yours sincerely <\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

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