(ANSA) - MOSCOW, 04 AUG - The trial against one of the great figures of the 2020 Belarus protest, Maria Kolesnikova, opened today in Minsk, in portechiuse.
The leader of the demonstrations, the only one still left in the country, is accused of having wanted to overthrow the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Kolesnikova, who has been detained for 10 months, is on trial with her lawyer Maxime Znak.
The two face up to 12 years in prison for "conspiracy to take power" and up to seven years in prison for "calls for actions that undermine national security".
A 39-year-old former flutist of the country's philharmonic orchestra, Kolesnikova has become a symbol of the protest movement in Belarus. Together with opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronika Tsepkalo, Kolesnikova led last summer's demonstrations against Lukashenko.
The opponent was arrested in September last year after resisting an attempted expulsion from her country by tearing her passport. Kolesnikova and Znak had worked for Viktor Babaryko, rival of the Belarusian president recently sentenced to 14 years in prison for fraud.
In a video from inside the courthouse, Kolesnikova - in a black dress and her signature red lipstick - was seen dancing and smiling next to Znak inside the defendants' 'cage'. He also made a heart-shaped symbol with his hands, which he often did during protests.
The trial begins as critics of the regime accuse the Belarusian government of killing dissident Vitaly Shishov in neighboring Ukraine and attempting to forcibly bring Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsymanouskaya back to the country from Tokyo. (HANDLE).