Losik: Some Released Political Prisoners Had Their Passports Taken Away Before Being Sent To Lithuania

In exchange for the documents, they were given a certificate on an ordinary A4 sheet.

Belarusian prisoners, who spent the night in the KGB detention center before their release and deportation to Lithuania, had their passports taken away. This "Radiyo Svaboda" was told by the administrator of the telegram channel "Belarus of the brain" Igor Losik.

According to Losik, even the day before he was in the SHIZO of the Novopolotsk colony.

- Even yesterday I was poured chlorine on the floor. It is very cold there in summer. I slept on a bare board even yesterday. I didn't expect [release]," said the former prisoner.

On the morning of September 10, after the morning inspection, he was told to pack his things, handcuffed and put a bag over his head and taken in a car to Minsk, where Losik was taken to the "American" - the KGB detention center.

- There were 13 of us - Nikolai Statkevich, Dashkevich, Dedok - a lot of people. We spent the night there. And everyone who was there - we were picked up in the morning and brought to the border. And everyone who was in the "American", all of them had their passports stolen. So we came here - nobody had passports. They took away photos, all the papers, sentences, notebooks - just everything," said the former political prisoner.

A few other political prisoners also told about the taken away passports. According to them, instead of documents, they were given a certificate confirming their identity on an ordinary A4 sheet: "Certificate number 1 for confirmation of identity. FULL NAME." A photo was pasted on it and stamped. It was with such "documents" that they got to Lithuania.

In Lithuania at the border they were issued visas for 15 days. They were pasted on a separate sheet. There is a special form for such cases, where Lithuanian border guards paste the visa. Then they have to go through the usual way of obtaining humanitarian status in Lithuania.

We recall, September 11, it became known about the release of 52 political prisoners in Belarus. Of them, 14 were foreigners.

The prisoners were sent to Lithuania, although some of them later said they didn't want to leave Belarus.

One of the released, politician Nikolai Statkevich, eventually refused to go to Lithuania and returned to the Belarusian side.

- There were several attempts to persuade him: American diplomats, his wife, and some other woman. I was given five minutes, that was the last attempt. Got him in there, it was happening in Belarus, at a border crossing. He refused. He believes that Lukashenko does not decide his fate. He will be where he wants to be, and he doesn't give a damn "about your collective farm leader. He wants to be in Belarus," said Statkevich's words to his associate Evgeny Vilski.

After it became finally clear that Nikolai Statkevich would not change his decision, he was taken away in an unknown direction. According to Vilski, this was done by masked men, who were nearby all the time.

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