KYIV (Reuters) -Jailed Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova has been taken to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the city of Gomel for unknown reasons, jailed opposition politician Viktor Babariko’s Telegram account said on Tuesday.
Reuters was unable immediately to verify her whereabouts. The Telegram channel said Kolesnikova, an outspoken critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was taken to the hospital on Monday.
“Awful news. Our dear Masha (Maria), we all hope that you are going to be okay!” exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Telegram.
Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass street protests against Lukashenko in 2020, is serving an 11-year sentence for what she said were trumped allegations of involvement in mass unrest.
Kolesnikova, 40, had recently been held in a punishment cell in her prison, although it was not clear how long for and from what date, Babariko’s Telegram account said.
Kolesnikova ran Babariko’s presidential campaign when he sought to stand against Lukashenko at the 2020 presidential elections that sparked mass protests that were crushed by a violent crackdown.
After Babariko was arrested in the run-up to the election that Lukashenko won by a landslide, Kolesnikova came out in support of Tsikhanouskaya.
(Writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage)
