Belarusians Sounding The Alarm Regarding Mikalai Statkevich’s Situation
- 8.11.2023, 21:49
The associates of the leader of the Belarusian opposition held an action near the European Parliament.
There has been no information about the fate of the leader of the Belarusian opposition Mikalai Statkevich for nine months. The relatives of the political prisoner do not receive letters.
The politician’s colleagues from the Narodnaya Hromada party and representatives of other political movements held an action in support of the leader of the Belarusian opposition near the European Parliament in Brussels today, on November 8, which the organizers notified the Charter97.org website about.
Mikalai Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment, he was accused of “organizing mass riots” (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Belarus).
Since the beginning of July 2022, when Mikalai Statkevich began serving his sentence in the colony in Hlybokaye, he had 23 fines. At least 9 times he was sent to a punishment cell, for the periods of 7 to 10 days. The political prisoner spent the New Year in the punishment cell.
Mikalai Statkevich is held in the colony in the harshest confinement conditions possible: the policy is to keep him in solitary confinement in conditions dangerous to human health. It became known that Mikalai Statkevich got COVID-19 twice while in prison.
What is Mikalai Statkevich famous for
In 1991, Statkevich announced the creation of the Belarusian military association (“Belarusian Military Union”), which aimed to “create a Belarusian army, protect independence, and educate society historically and patriotically.”
In 1999, Mikalai was one of the organizers of the Freedom March directed against the so-called “union state” and the policy of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The Freedom March showed the whole world that there were people living in Belarus who preferred the European democratic way of development to medieval dictatorship and barbarism.
In 2005, Statkevich was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment for organizing a peaceful demonstration against the falsification of the results of the 2004 referendum.
In 2010, Mikalai was one of the presidential candidates in the elections. He was arrested after a mass demonstration of protest against falsification of presidential elections on December 19, 2010. Mikalai spent almost five years behind bars and was released only on August 22, 2015. After his release, Statkevich continued his struggle against the Lukashenka regime, and took an active part in all protest actions.
On May 31, 2020, Mikalai Statkevich was detained on his way to the picket, and in December 2021 he was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a special regime colony.
Mikalai Statkevich spent more than 10 years in prison for his unparalleled courage in resisting the regime. The politician was recognized by Amnesty International as a person of conscience three times. Even in prison, Mikalai Statkevich remains a symbol of fortitude for Belarusians.