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German Social Democratic Party bestows 2012 Willy Brandt Special Award for Political Courage on Mikalay Statkevich

The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) has reportedly bestowed its 2012 Willy Brandt Special Award for Political Courage on imprisoned Belarusian opposition politician Mikalay Statkevich.

On December 14, the 56-year-old former presidential candidate met with his lawyer in the Mahilyow cell-type prison where he serves his term.

According to the politician’s wife, Maryna Adamovich, she has learned that a commission, which is expected to consider Mr. Statkevich’s case in late December, may decide to ease the prison conditions for him, which would mean one more parcel and one more brief meeting within a year.

In May 2011, a district judge in Minsk sentenced Mr. Statkevich to six years in a medium-security correctional institution, 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, 2012, a judge found Mr. Statkevich guilty of violating prison rules and ordered him placed in a higher-security correctional institution 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.

Since January, Mr. Statkevich has been held in a two-man cell in the Mahilyow prison. He is allowed to have only one brief conjugal meeting a year and receive one food parcel weighing no more than two kilograms. //BelaPAN