The security forces did not carry out any investigative measures with the participation of Maria Kolesnikova while she is in the pre-trial detention center. The leader of the Belarusian opposition told about this in a letter to her relatives, a fragment of which was published on her page in Facebook a >.
Kolesnikova recalled that she filed petitions to initiate criminal proceedings against investigators and other employees involved in her abduction in mid-September, an attempted deportation and detention, as well as those who threatened her life and health. But these complaints were not even considered in the 80 days that she was in the isolation ward. There were no other investigative actions with her participation.
“There are still no results of the forensic medical examination, which was carried out on September 21. The laws do not work, the system does not work!”, – Kolesnikova said about the inaction of the investigators. In addition, the report says that for about three weeks the SIZO leadership has been ignoring the opposition leader’s request to meet with the head of the medical unit of the institution on health issues.
On November 16, the court extended Kolesnikova’s detention until January 8. She was charged under part 3 of article 361 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (“Calls to action aimed at causing harm to national security”).
Kolesnikova was detained on September 8. This became known a day after unknown persons abducted her in the center of Minsk. According to the Belarusian authorities, the opposition leader, together with two associates, tried to escape to Ukraine and was detained while trying to break through the border in a car. Kolesnikova herself, as well as the Ukrainian side denied these words: Kiev insists that they tried to deport the oppositionist by force, but she tore her passport in order to stay in the country.