Maria Kalesnikava, July 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Relatives of the Belarusian political prisoner Maria Kalesnikava have received a letter from her for the first time in over two and a half years, according to a post made on Kalesnikava’s Instagram account on Thursday.

Kalesnikava, who is serving an 11-year sentence for conspiring to seize state power, rose to prominence during the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections, which saw incumbent Alexander Lukashenko returned to the presidency for a sixth consecutive term, provoking mass protests against his decades-long rule.

“Every morning I look up at the morning sky, and every evening at the starry sky, and I think of you and hug you all so tightly in my mind!” Kalesnikava wrote, adding: “Our reunion is getting closer, and it will be the happiest of days.”

During the run up to the 2020 election, Kalesnikava ran the campaign of opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka, who was arrested on politically motivated charges for bribery and money laundering, and who was ultimately sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Following his imprisonment, Kalesnikava began working for fellow opposition candidate Sviatlana Tshikanouskaya, who despite officially receiving just 10% of the vote and being forced into exile in Lithuania, is considered by independent analysts to have won the election convincingly.

After being sentenced in 2021, it was not until November 2024 that Kalesnikava was allowed to see her father, having been kept in almost total isolation for two years beforehand.