"Thank You, People!": Nikolai Statkevich Thanked Belarusians

• 1.03.2026, 18:49

And reminded of the need to release all political prisoners.

Belarusian opposition leader Nikolai Statkevich and his wife Marina Adamovich thanked Belarusians for their support:

- Dear friends!

Marina and I sincerely thank everyone who congratulated us on my release, who offered support, who supported us all these years.

It is all the more important for us because we know how much effort the ruling regime has made and is making to destroy human solidarity. In detention, specially trained staff periodically told me that "everyone has already forgotten about me on the outside, that no one needs me there." I replied that even if that was true, what did that change about my position?

But in fact I never believed in my "irrelevance" because I felt your support - both when the letters still reached me (I know that many people paid for solidarity with their own freedom) and when I found myself for three years in complete informational isolation. Because your warmth enveloped me. And I felt it almost physically.

The more the authorities are afraid of "their" people, the more forces and means they direct to destroy solidarity between people, to turn them into a herd of intimidated loners. But, as we see now, these efforts have been unsuccessful. Because solidarity was instilled in us at the level of instincts millions of years ago, when our ancestors were not even primates yet. Just like caring for children, for example. And no one can destroy that. Otherwise we'd just stop being human. Real people...

And every time it is so touching, so heartbreaking when strangers (and this is in our cleaned-up country!) congratulate us, even cry when they see us together. It brings tears to our eyes.

Thank you, people!

But it is very disturbing how many people are still in prison. We remember them, support their relatives, do everything for their release!

Freedom to all political prisoners!

Nikolai Statkevich