Narodnaya Hramada Urges Chancellor Scholz’s Help In Releasing Mikalai Statkevich

• 9.05.2023, 15:13

The head of the German government is a social democrat, just like the Belarusian political prisoner.

Activists of the Narodnaya Hramada social-democratic party appealed to the Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz with a call to help release the leader of the Belarusian opposition Mikalai Statkevich. The head of the German government is a social democrat, just like the Belarusian political prisoner.

The activists пфму a letter to the German ambassador in Lithuania. Charter97.org publishes the appeal of Narodnaya Hramada.

“We, members of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party Narodnaya Hramada, appeal to you, the Federal Chancellor of Germany and a representative of one of the most influential social democratic parties.

For almost three months now we have had no contact with the leader of our party, social democrat and politician Mikalai Statkevich. Since February 9, 2023, we don't even know if Mikalai Statkevich is still alive.

Lukashenka, who usurped power in Minsk, sent him to jail on May 31, 2020, during the election campaign. Mikalai Stakevich was charged with organizing mass riots. On December 14, 2021, the politician was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison. Mikalai Statkevich is the only political prisoner in Belarus who was sentenced to such prison conditions. This is already the fourth criminal case against Mikalai Statkevich during Lukashenka's rule.

In the summer of 2022, he was transferred to the most severe colony in Belarus - IK No. 13 in the town of Hlybokae. This is the only prison in Belarus for those who are serving a life sentence and those who have committed particularly severe crimes.

We know that Mikalai Statkevich is kept in a solitary confinement cell measuring 1x3 meters. He spent half a year in a punishment cell. He was deprived of watching TV, calls, letters, meetings, the opportunity to read books and communicate. He has neither a blanket nor a pillow in the punishment cell, and he is forced to sleep on hard wood. Even the disease did not affect the easing of his imprisonment condition: in November 2022, the leader of our party fell ill with pneumonia, and already in December he was sent to a punishment cell.

Communication with Mikalai Statkevich was interrupted on February 9, 2023. Neither his relatives nor his associates have received a single letter from him since that day. He was also deprived of meetings with his lawyer who could provide information regarding his condition.

We appeal to you, a representative of the social democratic movement, with a request to join our campaign in support of Mikalai Statkevich and officially request the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to provide information on the condition of Mikalai Statkevich, demanding to break the information isolation and allow his family to see him.

Thanks to your solidarity, the whole world will hear about the cruel conditions of detention of Belarusian political prisoners and about punishments ordered by Lukashenka against those who do not agree with him. We very much hope that with your help, with your participation in the campaign, we will be able to force Lukashenka to release Mikalai Statkevich and other political prisoners,” the appeal by the activists reads.