Honorary Professor Maria Kalesnikava is free
The Mozarteum University Salzburg is extremely happy and relieved about the release of its honorary professor Maria Kalesnikava and 122 other political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the human rights organisation Viasna, Ales Bjaljazki, from detention in Belarus. Thanks to careful mediation by the USA, Kalesnikava was released from prison on Saturday, 13 October 2025 after almost five years of incarceration in apalling and inhumane conditions.
Maria Kalesnikava, a flutist and cultural manager, was arrested in September 2020 during mass protests against the rigged presidential elections in Belarus. She was supposed to be forcibly removed from the country, but tore up her passport at the Ukrainian border and remained in Belarus. She was subsequently sentenced to eleven years in prison and held in inhumane conditions, including more than 600 days in complete isolation, without contact with relatives or lawyers.
As a charismatic figurehead of the democratic movement, described by philosopher Olga Shparaga as a ‘revolution with a female face,’ Maria Kalesnikava is internationally recognised for her courage, feminism and consistent commitment to freedom and human rights.
With its Practicing Care initiative, the Mozarteum University Salzburg has helped to keep Maria Kalesnikava's fate, as well as that of other politically persecuted artists, in the public eye. Practicing Care is inspired by Maria Kalesnikava's work, by the solidarity within the Belarusian protest movement, and by a feminist perspective on situations of political upheaval. This perspective also includes other current protest movements, such as those in Iran. As part of the initiative, more than 40 events have been organised and over ten residencies for politically persecuted artists in exile have been made possible, including artists from Belarus such as Lavon Volski, Maryna Yakubovich and Olga Shparaga. The Mozarteum University Salzburg will continue to support Maria Kalesnikava and her friends.
Despite these recent releases, more than 1,000 political prisoners remain incarcerated in Belarus in degrading conditions. The Mozarteum University Salzburg calls on the Austrian government to take active political and diplomatic steps to secure the release of all political prisoners in Belarus.