English

Mikalay Statkevich will not ask Lukashenka for pardon, wife says

Maryna Adamovich, the wife of former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, has received another phone call from her husband, who is imprisoned in Mahilyow.

The conversation, which took place on April 13, lasted around 10 minutes, Ms. Adamovich told BelaPAN on Monday.

“Mikalay said that he had had his chest X-rayed twice, perhaps because his former inmate had TB," said the woman. "He was not given an explanation regarding the test. Neither was he told about its findings. He also said that his friends’ letters had started to reach them. Mikalay linked that to a probe carried out by a prosecutor’s office at the Mahilyow prison at present. He met with the inspecting team whom he complained that he was not receiving the newspapers Nasha Niva and Novy Chas to which he had subscribed.”

Mr. Statkevich said that he had a light cold, but his health was fine in general, said the wife. “He stressed that there were no grounds for serious concerns about his health.”

Ms. Adamovich added that her husband had reiterated that he would not apply to Alyaksandr Lukashenka for clemency. "He said that his position is firm," she said.

In May 2011, a district judge in Minsk sentenced Mr. Statkevich to six years in a medium-security prison, finding him guilty of organizing "mass disorder" in connection with a post-election protest staged in the Belarusian capital city on December 19, 2010.

In a trial that took place in a prison in Shklow, Mahilyow region, on January 12, a judge found the 55-year-old Statkevich guilty of violating prison rules and ordered him placed in a higher-security correctional institution in Mahilyow for three years.

The charge was brought against Mr. Statkevich because of his missing number tag and failure to mention handkerchiefs among his personal items.

While in the cell-type prison, Mr. Statkevich will be allowed to have only one brief conjugal meeting a year and receive one food parcel weighing no more than two kilograms.