Navigation und Service

Lyudmila Kazak, Rechtsanwältin

Dankesrede zur Weitergabe des OVID-Preises an Maria Kalesnikava

Good evening –ladies and gentlemen, my name is Lyudmila Kazak.

I was the defender of Maria Kalesnikava for 6 months. From the very moment when Maria was abducted in the center of Minsk on September 7, 2020, she was held by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB. They were forcing her to agree to leave Belarus threatening her with 25 years of imprisonment, with causing harm to her health. Then they took her to the border with Ukraine trying to expel her from her native country.

We all know what happened next: at the border, Maria tore up her passport, ruining all the plans of the security forces, and, not being afraid of threats, remained in Belarus, knowing that she was facing prison.

Maria showed indomitable will, commitment to the principles of her team, perseverance in defending democratic changes, courage.

The whole world supported her, but the authorities were afraid, because they realized that she has strength, and that Maria, if released, would become the conductor of changes leading Belarus to democracy. After a year of detention in harsh, degrading conditions, on September 6, 2021, Maria was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

This politically motivated verdict, handed down as a result of a closed-door hearings only emphasized the weakness of those behind it, and in no way convinced us of Maria's guilt.

Maria is not only a symbol and inspirer of the democratic processes taking place in the Belarusian society, but also the face of the cultural revolution of Belarus.

Maria is a musician known for her successful creative projects both in Belarus and in Europe. I think it was this profession that determined the freedom of her thinking. We know many examples of how, at different times in different countries, representatives of culture and art were the catalysts of democratic changes in society.

This is, for example, Vaclav Havel, whose prize was recently awarded to Maria for her outstanding contribution to the protection of human rights and the struggle for freedom.

It is impossible not to recall the biography of the respected Wolf Bierman, who was one of the most famous dissidents of the GDR and who was deprived of the GDR citizenship for expressing his views.

Many representatives of the cultural community have been subjected to repression in Belarus over the past year.

Many musicians, writers, artists have lost their jobs, and many have lost their freedom for solidarity with the Belarusian people.

It was their active and creative participation that visualized the process of change in the Belarusian society for ordinary people.

As a result of the desire for change that broke out, it was the representatives of the cultural community who created the symbols of the Belarusian democratic movement that are recognizable all over the world.

Throughout Maria's time in custody, the cultural communities of Belarus and Europe, especially Germany, where Maria lived for a long time and became a native, along with well-known politicians, actively supported and continue to support our Masha.

Claudia Roth and Christine Fischer have made many efforts to support Masha and free her.

This awareness of support is incredibly important for her in custody. Every time I visited her in prison and told her about people who were doing everything they could to free her, I strengthened her confidence in her own rightness, kept her spirits up.

And Masha is not broken! She is full of strength and hope. And no restrictions and repressions can drown out the music in her heart.
In prison, Masha sings, asks to pass notes to her in order to play her favorite works in memory. Her ringing voice and laughter penetrate into all corners of her prison, forcing every jailer to respect the strength and fortitude of her spirit.

Before the trial, Masha danced in the cage in the court room, smiled and supported our faith that this terror in Belarus would end soon.

Masha said that in prison, oddly enough, she especially feels her inner freedom.

The sense of inner freedom, innocence, confidence in her rightness and unceasing support will certainly help our Masha to overcome this difficult period in her life with perseverance and dignity.

Wolf's decision to hand over the Ovid Prize to Maria is not just an act of support from the German cultural community, but also recognition of her enormous contribution to upholding human rights and freedoms, democratic principles.

Maria shares this recognition with all Belarusian cultural representatives who have been subjected to pressure and repression by the authorities for their contribution to the process of democratic change in Belarus.

Thank you so much for your trust and recognition of Maria's merits, and I really hope that very soon, thanks to international support, she will be free and will be able to personally thank Wolf and all those who are not indifferent to her fate.

Rede gehalten am 5. Oktober 2021 im Deutschen Exilarchiv 1933–1945 der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek in Frankfurt am Main

Letzte Änderung: 15.11.2021

nach oben