Mikalai Statkevich Marks His Birthday Today

The leader of the Belarusian opposition turned 67 years old.

The leader of the Belarusian opposition Mikalai Statkevich turned 67 today.

Mikalai Statkevich is celebrating his fourth birthday behind bars in a row. Nothing has been heard from the politician for 185 days.

The leader of the Belarusian opposition celebrates his birthday in solitary confinement, where he was placed on May 5 for six months.

The Charter97.org website congratulates Mikalai Statkevich on his birthday and wishes him a speedy release and fulfillment of his wishes in an independent, democratic Belarus.

Mikalai Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison, he was accused of “organizing mass riots” (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Belarus).

Since the beginning of July 2022, when Mikalai Statkevich began serving his sentence in the Hlybokaye colony, he has had 23 penalties. At least 9 times he ended up in a punishment cell — for periods of 7 to 10 days. The political prisoner celebrated the New Year in the punitive confinement.

Mikalai Statkevich is held in the colony in the most severe conditions: the politician is placed in solitary confinement under conditions dangerous to health. It became known that Mikalai Statkevich had been ill with COVID-19 twice in prison.

What is Mikalai Statkevich famous for?

In 1991, Statkevich announced the creation of the Belarusian Military Association, which aimed to “create a Belarusian army, protect independence and historical and patriotic education of society.”

In 1999, Mikalai was one of the organizers of the Freedom March, directed against the so-called “union state” and the policies of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The Freedom March showed the whole world that Belarus is inhabited by the people who prefer the European democratic path of development to medieval dictatorship and barbarism.

In 2005, Statkevich was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment for organizing a peaceful demonstration against the falsification of the results of the 2004 referendum.

In 2010, Mikalai was one of the presidential candidates in the elections. He was arrested after a mass demonstration against the fraud of the presidential elections on December 19, 2010. Mikalai spent almost five years behind bars and was released only on August 22, 2015. After his release, Statkevich continued to fight against the Lukashenka regime and took an active part in all protests.

On May 31, 2020, Mikalai Statkevich was detained on his way to the picket, and in December 2021 he was sentenced to 14 years in a special regime colony.

For unparalleled courage in resisting the regime, Statkevich spent more than 10 years in prison. The politician has been recognized as a prisoner of conscience three times by Amnesty International. Even while in prison, Mikalai Statkevich remains a symbol of fortitude for Belarusians.