Kolesnikova, the flute player sentenced to 11 years in Belarus for "conspiring to seize power"

• Belarus The closed-door trial of two opposition leaders begins in Belarus

A Belarusian court has sentenced opposition leader

, one of the country's leading voices in favor of democracy,

to 11 years in prison

. The authorities accused her of having created and led an extremist organization to seize power.

Kolesnikova

freedom of conscience, became one of the most visible figures in the Belarusian opposition in 2020. She has served on the board of directors of the so-called Coordination Council, the body created by detractors of the current president,

, to try to open the way to the holding of new elections. She was arrested in September last year, following a failed attempt to expel her from Belarus. The opponent

at the border to prevent her deportation to neighboring Ukraine and has been imprisoned ever since.

Opposition lawyer Maxim Znak, against whom similar charges were against, has been sentenced to ten years. Both are also attributed crimes against national security. The two deny breaking the law and Kolesnikova has called the accusations

The Belarus Investigation Committee denied bail for the opponent last November.

Kolesnikova and Znak were punished for committing crimes classified in articles 357 (conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power), 361 (calls for actions aimed at damaging national security) and 361-1 (creation of a extremist group or participation in it) of the Penal Code of Belarus.

The lawyer Evgueni Pilchenko, who represented Znak in the trial on Monday, rejected the sentence and said that it will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Belarus. "This verdict is illegal, unfounded, it is not based on evidence. The defense will appeal this sentence, appeals will be presented in a period of ten days," Pilchenko told the media.

Suspicions of fraud in the Belarusian presidential elections last August, which granted the sixth term to Alexander Lukashenko (in power since 1994) sparked mass protests that lasted for several months.

In August, lawyer Ilya Salei, defender of these two prominent incarcerated opponents, announced his departure from the country. Salei has also led the defense of the frustrated presidential

imprisoned since before last year's election. Kolesnikova led the Babariko campaign, and for a time took over as head of the dissent alongside Svetlana Tijanovskaya, the wife of another jailed aspirant.

Belarus has practically

Victor Babariko, former CEO of Belgazprombank, was sentenced in early July to 14 years in prison for alleged money laundering, tax evasion and passive bribery.

Kolesnikova has an experience in the world of music, where she has also been a teacher. He studied music in Minsk and played the flute in the National Academic Concert Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus. At the age of 25 he went to study at the University of Music in Stuttgart, where he completed a

The European Union regretted the sentence to the Belarusian opposition leaders: "The EU deplores the continuing and flagrant lack of respect by the Minsk regime for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Belarusian people," reported the European External Action Service. in his web page.

The community bloc, according to the note, urges "the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Belarus (who now number more than 650), journalists and all people who are imprisoned for exercising their rights."

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