Statkevich was given a six-year jail sentence in May 2011 on a charge of organizing mass street protests against Lukashenko’s re-election at the time.
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Lukashenko’s office said the president, “proceeding from the principle of humanism”, decided Saturday to pardon and release Statkevich and five others who are considered to be political prisoners. The authoritarian president of Belarus on Saturday…
Belarussian President Aleksander Lukashenko has pardoned six jailed opposition figures, including Nikolai Statkevich who was imprisoned after running against him for the presidency in 2010, his administration said on Saturday.
Statkevich was greeted by his wife and supporters following his release, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“I will continue to fight for a free, independent and European Belarus”, the 59-year-old veteran opposition leader said.
The surprise move to release the six detainees comes as Lukashenko, in power since 1994, seeks a fifth term in the October 11 election. Washington once dubbed the country as Europe’s “last dictatorship”.
The EU and United States had set the freeing of political prisoners as a condition for easing economic sanctions and travel bans imposed on Belarusian officials.
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“Minsk is in real need of Western credits because of the economic collapse”, he added. “We now expect the authorities of Belarus to remove all restrictions on the enjoyment of full civil and political rights of the released”.
