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Mikola Statkevich pictured in the “neutral zone” between the state borders of Belarus and Lithuania. Photo: Nasha Niva
Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that Belarusian authorities have taken back opposition politician Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave the country after being pardoned as part of a recent deal between Washington and Minsk that saw 52 political prisoners released and transported into neighboring EU member Lithuania. Lukashenko, however, did not specify where Statkevich was taken or on what grounds, according to a report by the outlet Zerkalo.
“He went there, apparently onto the neutral strip, and crossed over to the Lithuanians. The guys asked: ‘Do you want to go to Belarus? You’ll end up in prison...’ [Statkevich replied]: ‘I’ll go to prison.’ Well, alright.
They took him. We couldn’t just leave him there. After all, he’s our man. Our citizen, to be precise. They took him back to Belarus. Why offend him? But if he wants to be a leader in burning police cars and houses, then let him stay there [in prison]. If he wants to somehow arrange his old age and live it out like a human being…well, enough, he has fought already — that’s another story. We need to approach this humanely,” Lukashenko was cited by Zerkalo as saying during a meeting with state propagandists, pro-government historians on Sept. 17.
Lukashenko also explained why Statkevich was included in the list for pardon and deportation to Lithuania: the 69-year-old Statkevich, who had served more than five years, “was already at the end” at the time of release and, in Lukashenko’s words, could have “soon died, God forbid, in prison.” Lukashenko himself is 71.
Earlier, the independent newspaper Nasha Niva, citing a “reliable source,” reported that Statkevich had again been placed in a penal colony in the town of Hlybokaye, from which he was released on Sept. 9 as part of the exchange. Later, his wife, Marina Adamovich, said that officials at Correctional Colony No. 13 in Hlybokaye refused to provide any information about his whereabouts. She filed a missing person report with the police.
In a Sept. 16 interview with TV Rain, Adamovich described her husband’s stance and his refusal to leave the country:
“Of course, I knew, because that is his position, his long-standing position, which he has voiced more than once. He has repeatedly, under various circumstances, said that he would not leave Belarus. I respect and support his [decision]; I cannot treat it otherwise. Nikolai had been in solitary confinement for all these three years. There was no information about him at all. I had no access to him. He was held incommunicado for two years and seven months. That meant absolutely no information about him — no letters, no phone calls, no messages whatsoever.”
She also recalled a phone conversation from the neutral zone at the border:
“It was the first time I heard him since June 1, 2022. We talked about personal things, and I was endlessly happy that he was still the same person, that those brutal conditions had not broken him, had not broken his spirit. But he told me, ‘Forgive me, I must return.’ He had always promised people that he would remain in Belarus. Always.”
Statkevich was arrested in May 2020, three months before the country’s presidential election saw a massive wave of protest calling on incumbent Alexander Lukashenko to accept defeat and resign. Lukashenko’s forces succeeded in repressing the movement, and in December 2021 Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “organizing mass unrest.” For the past two and a half years, he had been held in complete isolation in Hlybokaye, with no information available to the outside world about his condition.
A former military officer and leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada), Statkevich ran in the 2010 presidential election and was sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in an election day protest. He was released in 2015 and resumed his political activities.
The release of 52 political prisoners, including Statkevich, was part of an agreement recently struck between the governments of Belarus and the United States. Following talks between Alexander Lukashenko and U.S. envoy John Coale, Washington lifted sanctions on Belarusian state-owned airline Belavia. Lukashenko thanked Donald Trump for his “peacekeeping efforts” and said he was ready for a “big deal” with the United States.