Political prisoner who refused to leave Belarus is returned to penal colony

Mikola Statkevich, a Belarusian political prisoner who was among 52 people released by the Belarusian authorities on 11 September, is back in prison after he refused to leave Belarus.

Source: Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva, citing a verified source, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to Nasha Niva, Statkevich has been placed in the penal colony in the town of Hlybokaye where he was previously held. No further details have been provided.

On 11 September, Statkevich, 69, appeared in the no man’s land between Belarus and Lithuania. Surveillance camera images published in the media show a man resembling Statkevich sitting between the checkpoints at the Lithuanian and Belarusian borders.

It was reported that neither Statkevich’s wife nor Belarusian opposition representatives knew his whereabouts after he refused to cross the border.

Statkevich ran for the presidency in 2010. After taking part in a protest on 19 December 2010, he was sentenced to six years in a maximum-security prison. He was released in 2015 and continued to take an active part in political campaigns and protests.

Statkevich was arrested in May 2020, before the widespread anti-government protests in Belarus began. He was charged with organising mass riots and sentenced to 14 years in a special-regime penal colony.

Background: 

• On 11 September, Belarus released 52 political prisoners. They crossed the Belarusian border and are now in Lithuania. Among those released was an employee of the EU delegation in Belarus. 
• The Belarusian political prisoners who were released on 11 September have compared prison conditions in Belarus to medieval torture.
• It also emerged that the United States has lifted sanctions on the Belarusian state-owned airline Belavia.

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