On 17 September, Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the situation with Belarusian political prisoner Nikolai Statkevich, who refused to leave Belarus, reports the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty.
In a video, circulated by a telegram channel “Pool One,” close to the authorities, Lukashenko said that he had decided to release Statkevich and send him abroad because of the health condition of the political prisoner.
At the same time, he said, when Statkevich refused to leave Belarus, he was told that he would then “go to prison,” to which he replied in agreement.
“All right, they took him away,” Lukashenko added.
At the same time, the head of the Belarusian regime did not specify where the political prisoner is now.
Earlier, Statkevich’s wife Marina Adamovich visited the colony in deep to get information about the place of her husband’s stay on her Facebook page, she said that the colony refused to confirm whether he was there.
On 17 September, representative of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus Olga Zozulinskaya appealed to the international community to make every effort to obtain official information about Statkevich’s fate.
The Belarusian edition “Nasha Niva,” citing a source, reported that 69-year-old leader of the party “Narodnaya Commune,” former presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich was returned to the penal colony.
In Belarus, 11 September, 38 citizens of this country and 14 foreigners – from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany, France and the UK – were released from penitentiary institutions. Among those released is journalist of Radio Liberty Igor Losik, who spent more than five years in prison.
Nikolai Statkevich refused to leave the territory of Belarus and go to Lithuania for deportation on 11 September. According to “Belsat,” citing the advisor of Sviatlana Tikhanouskaya, Dzianis Kuchinski, Statkevich “practically kicked the door, flew out of the bus and ran into the territory of Belarus. For several hours he stood at the border on the Belarusian side, he was visible on the surveillance camera. His wife, American diplomats and several other people tried to persuade him to leave Belarus, but failed. The Lithuanian side claims that Statkevich did not cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.