One of the laureates of the International Women of Courage Award for civic courage was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s colleague Maria Kolesnikova. This was reported by the press service of the US State Department.
The International Women of Courage Award is usually awarded to women from around the world who “have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in promoting peace, justice, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women”.
This time, in addition to 13 women activists from Myanmar, China, Iran and Turkey, the prize was also awarded to the Belarusian oppositionist Maria Kolesnikova. She was detained while trying to escape at the border of Belarus in the fall of last year.
Currently Kolesnikova is under investigation. She is accused of public calls for the seizure of state power or forcible change of the constitutional system of Belarus, as well as the creation and leadership of an extremist formation.