Statkevich does not hope for amnesty

• 7.05.2012, 14:08

Mikalai Statkevich, the imprisoned 2010 presidential candidate, has no hopes he will be released under amnesty.

He said it to his wife Maryna Adamovich in a telephone conversation on May 5.

Adamovich told BelaPAN news agency Statkevich was allowed to make short phone calls on weekends, though prison authorities said earlier he could talk to his family only on workdays. “He noted he received optimistic postcards saying Lukashenka promised an amnesty on Independence Day. He asked not to sent him such postcards, because he does not believe he will be released” Adamovich said.

Adamovich noted Statkevich did not have heart problems. “He said I may stop sending him Panangin, a medicine for heart, in medical parcels. He boasted he was once taken to a yard with a pull-up bar and he easily made 12 chin-ups. He performed 15 chin-ups in the Shklou colony until the bar was removed. It means he has normal tonus,” Adamovich said.

In May 2011, court found Mikalai Statkeivch guilty of organizing mass disorders and sentenced him to 6 years in a medium security penal system. He served his term in Shklou penal colony No. 17, but was transferred to prison No. 4 in Mahilou on January 15, 2012. The reason was an opinion of the penal colony administration that the politicians “did not mend his way”, “does not strive for the release on parole” and “is going to continue a criminal way of life”.

According to politician's wife, a formal reason for the accusation was absence of a label with prisoner's personal number on his clothes and failure to mention handkerchiefs in the list of personal belongings.

Alyaksnadr Lukashenka said about a possible amnesty during the voluntary work day on April 21. “It's possible we will release a number of prisoners in the nearest time, maybe be by Independence Day,” the head of state told journalists. He said the amnesty could target “two or three thousand people”. “It concerns only those with good behavior, those who are on the way of correcting their behavior, as they say,” Lukashenka said.