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Polish police free Ales Mikhalevich

Belarusian opposition politician Ales Mikhalevich was freed by Polish police after several hours’ detention at Warsaw Chopin Airport on Monday.

“I was released by order of a district prosecutor,” Mr. Mikhalevich told BelaPAN by phone. “The Polish foreign ministry has bought me a ticket and I will be able to continue my journey to London in a few hours.”

When asked whether he did not fear that such an incident could occur once again, Mr. Mikhalevich said, “I think that I will be fine in Poland, but I cannot rule out the possibility of this happening in other countries."

Mr. Mikhalevich, who ran in the December 2010 presidential election and fled Belarus a few months later, is heading to London to take part, along with other Belarusian opposition activists, in a meeting at the UK Foreign Office.

After his arrest at the airport, the politician told BelaPAN by phone that Poland’s National Public Prosecutor`s Office had issued an arrest warrant for him at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office in Minsk. “A border guard told me that the chief of the Polish police was waiting for me here to arrest and surrender me to the prosecutor’s office,” he said.

Poland`s Deputy Foreign Minister Krzysztof Stanowski went to the airport to negotiate the quick release of Mr. Mikhalevich.

In mid-March, Mr. Mikhalevich fled Belarus to the Czech Republic in fear of prosecution in connection with the December 19, 2010 post-election protest in Minsk; he was granted political asylum in the country later that month.

In the summer, the Belarusian authorities asked Interpol to assist in arresting the former presidential candidate.

Mr. Mikhalevich suggested that it was likely that his arrest had been ordered in the framework of Poland’s legal assistance agreement with Belarus. Under the agreement, Poland disclosed earlier this year information about Belarusian human rights activist Ales Byalyatski’s bank account in the country.

After the December 19, 2010 protest in Minsk, Mr. Mikhalevich was put in the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) and charged in a so-called riot case. He was released on his own recognizance in February after spending two months in the detention center.

The ex-candidate told reporters in Minsk on February 28 that the conditions in the KGB jail were tantamount to torture and forced him to promise the KGB to act as its informant.

In a posting that appeared on his blog shortly after midnight on March 14, Mr. Mikhalevich said that he had fled to a safe place, “beyond the reach” of the KGB.

Mr. Mikhalevich is said to maintain contacts with British law firm H2O Law that is preparing to bring a private prosecution against the Belarusian leader in the light of "evidence of systematic torture inside the KGB-run prisons of Belarus."