Uladzimir Niakliayeu: I Call On All Belarusians To Be Real Citizens

One of the BNC leaders has been released after seven days of arrest.

The companions, activists, journalists, who gathered under the prison walls in Akrestsin Street, shouted "Long Live Belarus!" to greet the politician, Radio Svaboda reports.

Uladzimir Niakliayeu, one of the leaders of the Belarusian National Congress, gave a hug to his wife Volha and complained that they did not let him look good in front of her – they hadn’t allowed him to shave.

"They could not help doing a wicked thing even on the last day," – he joked.

The politician said that it is always joyful to go out of the prison, but the general mood was not very good. According to him, the authorities expect that the regular arrests would eventually result in "carrying the poet away in white slippers".

"I got convinced again that we live in a police country, and we have to fight with it. I call on all Belarusians not to stay at home, but to be real citizens," – Uladzimir Niakliayeu said after leaving the prison.

They got me on the way to the clinic

Uladzimir Niakliayeu told some details of his detention. At 9:50 am on September 15, he had an appointment to see the doctor. He was detained on the way to the clinic, as if they had known where and when he would be going.

He said that judge of Savietski district court Fiodarava had refused to allow him to complete his treatment and to serve his arrest afterwards.

Niakliayeu: Special services interfere in private life

The politician says that he talked to Mikalai Statkevich, one of the leaders of the Belarusian National Congress, on the previous evening and told him about his plans. It means that their telephone conversations are monitored by special services. Accordingly, they interfere not only in political, but also in personal life, the politician says.

He was the most indignant in prison that they actually disarmed him, not allowing using a pencil.

"I asked till the last, but to no avail. That was a real psychological torture," – Niakliayeu summed up.

The politician also says that he was not given the opportunity to write to the prosecutor's office a complaint about bad living conditions in the cells of the detention center.

"Allegedly, the building has been repaired, but all the taps in the cells are leaking. I suggested fixing the tap myself, asked for a spanner and some cotton waste, but they refused," – Uladzimir Niakliayeu says.

Prisoners thanked for the rally against the exercises

Commenting on the Belarusian-Russian maneuvers, Uladzimir Niakliayeu says that even prisoners in Akrestsin thanked him for protesting against the exercises.

"They said that it was good that there were people who demonstrated that we did not want those maneuvers," – the politician recalled. According to Niakliayeu, "no one in Europe is going to attack Belarus, and that sabre rattling was only to make Russia happy".

We remind that Uladzimir Niakliayeu was convicted for participating in the prevention rally under the slogan "For Peaceful Belarus" against the West-2017 military exercises on Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk on September 8.