Former political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich has not been heard from since 24 March. The well-known opposition was expected to lead a non-parasite march in Minsk, but he failed to show up at the rally.
“Mikalai would never back down; he did take responsibility for the rally. He would do everything to be there. Please do not believe those who say such things [that he fled], I assure you, he is not in Paris,” Statkevich’s wife Maryna Adamovich told Belsat.
The Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) is denying any knowledge of his whereabouts. But the wife doubts the KGB has no information about Mikalai Statkevich and trembles for his life.
Belarus police against Belarusians: Brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Minsk (ENG video)
On March 25, the Minsk riot police brutally dispersed the protest against the so-called tax on ‘spongers’ introduced by president Alyaksandr Lukashenka in 2015. Hundreds of people – even women, elderly people, journalists and ordinary passers-by – were arrested, battered and jailed. It is noteworthy that the protesters also planned a peaceful celebration of Freedom Day. It is an unofficial holiday commemorating the establishment of the first Belarusian nation-state, the Belarusian People’s Republic, on March 25, 1918. Today, Belarusians came to Kastrychnitskaya Square to show solidarity with the protesters detained and beaten yesterday.
- Minsk on Freedom Day: Brutal detentions, beatings of protesters, passers-by
- Lawlessness in Minsk: Women, elderly people beaten by heavily-armed police (pics)
- Minsk: Human rights defenders detained by riot police released after rally was over
