MEPs Urged The Belarusian Regime To Return Mikalai Statkevich To Full Freedom

Belarusian opposition leader still hasn't got his passport back.

The European Parliament hosted the second Statkevich Forum, organized by MEPs Piatras Auštryavicius and Teis Røyten. The forum is dedicated to the recently released political prisoner, leader of the Belarusian opposition Mikalai Statkevich. The meeting was attended by activists of the Narodnaya Gramada party, Belarusian Christian Democracy and representatives of the Belarusian volunteer movement.

Opening the event, which took place in Brussels on March 24, Lithuanian MEP Petras Auštryavicius focused on the current state of Mikalai Statkevich: "We are very happy that Mikalai is free. He is happy to be at home with his wife Marina Adamovich. But we know he needs rehabilitation. He needs to improve his health, and we wish him a speedy recovery"," he said.

The deputy outlined the key problem: "Of course, he needs to get his passport back. Now he is a person without an identity card, without a passport. And one of the main goals of our meeting today should be not just to return personal documents to Statkevich, but to ensure his full freedom and good health in the broadest sense."

The organizer of the forum, Dutch MP Theis Roeten, stressed that it is important to talk about Statkevich himself, and also to see behind him all those who continue the resistance.

"It's important to single out such a person as Statkevich - and in his person to present the ongoing struggle for freedom in Belarus today: the struggle, supported by people like Nikolai, but also many others - nameless, not known to the public", - said Reuten.

The speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Juozas Olekas addressed a welcoming speech to the participants.

He emphasized: "We are glad when groups, even small, of Belarusian political prisoners are released. However, hundreds are still in prison and people continue to be arrested for their political views. We must be persistent and consistent. It is necessary to demand from Lukashenko's regime to stop political repression and new arrests. Only in this case we will avoid the situation when political prisoners become hostages of the regime's tactics to ask for more and more concessions.".

We recall that in the evening, February 19, it became known that Mikalai Statkevich was released. The politician, as reported by his wife, Marina Adamovich, had a stroke, now he's recovering. According to Adamovich, the politician returned home without an epicrisis, medical documents and passport, which creates serious problems for medical care.

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