The face of Maria Kolesnikova became known in half the world together with that of the Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tijanóvskayaand that of Verónika Tsepkalo
Together they formed the trio of opponents who stood up to Aleksandr Lukashenko the Belarusian authoritarian leader who believes that a woman cannot be president
Today when Belarus is experiencing the biggest protests in its history Kolesnikova is the only one of the famous troika left in the country after Tijanóvskaya had to go into exile in Lithuania and Tsepkalo went to Poland And for now despite the persecution of the Lukashenko regime she has no plans to leave
I am not afraid to walk the streets nor to say what I think I feel totally supported by the Belarusian citizens we are the voice of the majority emphasizes this 38 year old musician who lived in Germany.
For more than a decade and made a career there as a culture manager before the opposition banker Víktor Babarikosign up first to direct one of his artistic projects and later to direct his electoral campaign