Mikalai Statkevich warns about new provocations

Prison authorities make new attempts to force a political prisoner to apply for a pardon.

Charter97.org has learnt it from Statkevich's wife Maryna Adamovich.

“They began to fuss again. I had the impression that they are looking for ways [to press on me]. I recall that in Shklou they threatened to file a pardon application instead of me so that 'no experts could tell the difference'. I warn that in case of a fake application I will comment in a proper way. They won't find it funny. I can do that,” Mikalai Statkevich wrote in a letter.

The political prisoner's wife stressed the provocations in the Shklou penal colony had started in July or August 2011.

“Lukashenka visited the town and said he would give political prisoners a train or a plane if they agreed to apply for a pardon and leave the country. When they refused to file pardon applications, they faced 'test' pressure. They heard threats that 'professionals' would wrote applications so that handwriting examinations could not define it was a fake. I heard it from most people after their release,” Maryna Adamovich said.

She says the fuss began in the Mahilou prison this time.

“Mikalai thinks officials are looking for a way out of the situation. He earlier said he didn't want to hear about such proposals. Mikalai recalls the events that happened two years ago and warns he knows everything,” Maryna Adamovich is confident.

Mikalai Statkevich was a candidate in the 2010 presidential elections. He was arrested after a protest rally against the rigged elections.

On May 26, 2011, the politician was sentenced to 6 years in a medium security penal colony by Minsk's Partyzanski district court.

On January 12, 2012, confinement conditions for him were strengthened. He was transferred from penal colony No. 17 in Shklou to prison No. 4 in Mahilou.

Statkevich is often thrown into a punishment cell. He has restrictions relating to parcels and visits of relatives. He often faces provocations on the order of the authorities.