Maria Kalesnikava

Maria Kalesnikava (Marya Alyaksandrauna Kalesnikava / Maria Aleksandrovna Kolesnikova; born 24 April 1982) is a Belarusian professional flutist and political activist. In 2020, she headed Viktar Babaryka's electoral campaign during the presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus. Kalesnikava represented the united campaign of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then she became a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020 Belarusian protests in opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. She is also a founder of the 'Razam' political party.

Kalesnikava was kidnapped by unidentified law enforcement officers on 7 September 2020 and the next morning taken into Ukrainian territory by force. Kalesnikava was intimidated and pressured to leave Belarus, but while on neutral ground she got out of the car through the rear window, tore her passport to pieces and went back on foot. On Belarusian territory she was arrested immediately. Maxim Znak, Kalesnikava's attorney, was detained the next day. On 11 September 2020, Amnesty International recognized Kalesnikava as a prisoner of conscience. She was awarded the International Women of Courage Award in 2021. On 6 September 2021, Kalesnikava was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for her political activity. She was released in December 2025 and deported from Belarus.

Kalesnikava was born on 24 April 1982 in Minsk to a family of engineers. She has one sibling, a sister named Tatiana Khomich. According to Tatiana, their parents were deeply fond of music. They inspired interest in it in their daughters and in a certain way influenced Maria's choice of profession. Maria studied in a music school, then graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Music as a flutist and conductor.

At the age of 17, Kalesnikava started teaching the flute at a private gymnasium school in Minsk. She also played the flute at the National Academic Concert Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus under the direction of Mikhail Finberg. She played on tours across Italy, Poland, and Lithuania.

At the age of 25, she moved to Germany and enrolled to the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. She got two master's degrees, one in Early Music, and another in Neue Musik in 2012.

In the 2010s, Kalesnikava performed at concerts and was actively involved in organizing international cultural projects in Belarus and Germany, for instance, she was one of the creators of 'Eclat' music festival. Her other projects included 'Music and the Holocaust', school programm 'Orchestra of Robots', and a series of lectures under the title "Music Lessons for Adults".

In 2017, Maria participated in one of the first TEDxNiamiha conferences in Belarus. She took part in creation of the 'Artemp' art community that hosted contemporary art events. In the same year, she became the art director of the 'OK16' culture centre in Minsk.

In May 2020, Kalesnikava became the head of Viktar Babaryka's presidential campaign, who was Alexander Lukashenko's greatest independent competitor at the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. When Babaryka was refused registration and detained, on 16 July 2020, Kalesnikova and representatives of two other independent candidates' campaigns — Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (wife of Sergei Tikhanovsky) and Veronika Tsepkalo (wife of Valery Tsepkalo) — announced the creation of a triple alliance. Tsikhanouskaya became their mutual candidate; she gained wide support across the country. When Lukashenko declared himself a winner with 80,1% of the votes, the opposition refused to acknowledge the results and accused Lukashenko of massive falsifications. The USA, Great Britain, Canada and 8 EU countries refused to acknowledge the election's results as legitimate. Street protests and meetings emerged across the country, demanding a repeat election and Lukashenko's dismissal, which were brutally put down by law enforcement.