Does Mikalai Statkevich believe he will be released before the 2015 presiddential election? What thoughts and feelings does he have on the eve of his birthday? Belsat.eu has asked Maryna Adamovich, the political prisoner’s wife.
On August 12, Mikalai Statkevich turns 59 years old. Unfortunately, he is celebrating the event behind bars. In late May 2011, the candidate for presidency was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in a maximum-security. Now he is serving his term in Mahiliou closed prison No 4.
Yesterday Statkevich was visited by a lawyer from whom Maryna Adamovich learnt what is going on in prison.
“I was a little bit worried because Mikalai said that he had received only one congratulation [letter or postcard – Belsat]. I think that the current situation is the same as it was before, when he wrote that any communication was severely limited: talks to the priest, telephone calls, etc ,” Maryna Adamovich told Belsat.eu.
The wife has been distressed about how Statkevich endures heat. But the prison authorities allegedly make a concession to prisoners who are now allowed to wear light uniforms.
Mikalai Statkevich commented on president Lukashenka’s recent statements on his possible release.
“He said that this speech resembles a newspaper with the words ‘or near offer’ at the end. He said that he doubted the success of this deal, as he put it, ‘of recovery of the trade’. And even more did he question the release before the election. In any case, Mikalai reiterates his position that it is impossible to ‘ransom hostages’ because it will lead to taking new hostages,” Maryna Adamovich stresses.
The imprisoned ex-presidential candidate reminded EU countries of the conditions of normalization of relations with Belarus, which the bloc developed in 2011. The EU will not lift sanctions from Belarus until there are political prisoners in the country, they declared.
You can support Statkevich by writing a letter to him:
Мікалай Статкевіч. Беларусь 212011, г. Магілёў, вул. Крупскай, 99а, СТ-4.
Mikalai Statkevich Belarus 212011, Mahiliou, Krupskaya street, 99а, ST-4
Mikalai Statkevich is the last 2010 presidential candidate whom the Belarusian regime is still keeping in prison. The sentence given to Mr Statkevich in 2011 was one of the toughest: six years of imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony. The reason might be explained by the fact that in his election speech Mikalai Statkevich addressed to the current president demanding ‘to give back all that you have stolen’. The authorities are trying to embitter Statkevich’s life even in prison putting him to a disciplinary cell or making him share a ward with an AIDS sufferer. However, the former presidential candidate keeps mantaining his innocence and refuses to ask Belarus president Lukashenka for pardon.
In January, 2012 Statkevich was transferred from Shklou penal colony No 17 to a closed prison, where conditions of confinement are much more severe. In January, 2015 the imprisoned politician was moved from Mahiliou prison No 4 back to Shklou penal colony No 17.
Soon after the transfer the administration of Shklou started accusing Statkevich of violating internal regulations and disobeying the colony administration. On April 9, the Shklou colony commission decided to transfer Statkevich to prison until the end of the sentence. In early May judge Barantsava upheld the penal colony’s motion to put Mikalai in prison once again.
