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Belarusian opposition figure Mikola Statkevich imprisoned again after September release, says Wife
Belarusian opposition leader Mikola Statkevich, who was unexpectedly released in September, has been returned to prison to complete his sentence after refusing to leave the country, according to his wife. She had not received any information about him for more than two months.
Statkevich, 69, a longtime critic of President Alexander Lukashenko, was among 52 political prisoners freed on September 11 as part of negotiations with Washington. Shortly after, Lukashenko claimed that authorities had taken Statkevich to the neutral zone at the Belarus–Lithuania border, but that the opposition figure chose not to cross into Lithuania—aware that remaining in Belarus could result in re-arrest.
His wife, Marina Adamovich, said she finally received clarification late Monday. In a Facebook post, she shared a letter dated November 21 from the Ministry of the Interior. In the letter, Deputy Interior Minister Gennady Kazakevich confirmed that Statkevich is once again serving his sentence in accordance with a ruling issued by the Gomel Regional Court on December 14, 2021.
Statkevich has spent more than 12 years in Belarusian prisons since 1999. His most recent arrest took place in May 2020, followed by a 14-year prison sentence amid the mass protests that erupted after the widely disputed re-election of Lukashenko. The demonstrations of 2020–2021 were met with heavy repression, resulting in thousands of detentions and hundreds of long prison terms for activists, journalists, and opposition leaders.
