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Belarusian opposition activist applies for political asylum in Poland

Viktar Kantsavenka, a resident of Rechytsa, Homyel region, who was an authorized representative of candidate Mikalay Statkevich in the past presidential election, has asked for political asylum in Poland.

As Mr. Kantsavenka told BelaPAN over the phone, he currently stays at the Debak reception center for asylum seekers near Warsaw.

“To get refugee status, one may have to spend here about a year,” he said. “I’ve been given a visa for half a year. I’m being treated well. Most of the inmates are Chechens. There are Belarusians here, but they are few in number. I’m not going to come back to Belarus.”

According to Mr. Kantsavenka, who was Mr. Statkevich’s campaign coordinator for the Homyel region, if he had remained in Belarus, he would certainly have been in prison on a fabricated charge and subjected to pressure and torture with a view to obtaining evidence against Statkevich.”

As Mr. Kantsavenka said, KGB officers hunted for him after the December 19 post-election protest in Minsk and searched his home, but he managed to escape. He took a local train bound for Zhlobin and slipped off at a way station near Zhlobin and then traveled by car from Zhlobin to the Russian city of Bryansk. He then made his way to Ukraine’s Chernihiv, where human rights activists helped him get to Kyiv and file an application for political asylum in Ukraine. When he learned that the local police were after him, he went to Poland. “Polish authorities treated me with favor and granted me a visa although there were problems with my passport,” he said.