November 26, Pozirk. Śviatłana Hałaŭnijova, a lawyer with the Viasna Human Rights Center, has questioned the legality of the continued incarceration of opposition politician Mikałaj Statkievič, who was pardoned on September 11 but returned to prison after refusing forced deportation to Lithuania.
She argued that legislation does not provide for the annulment of a pardon unless the person commits a new crime during the sentence that was terminated by the pardon.
After the politician had been pardoned and then taken back into custody, the interior ministry stated that Statkievič “is serving his sentence in accordance with the ruling of December 14, 2021,” the lawyer noted.
It should be noted that the government has not published the edict on pardons for the group of 52 political prisoners that included Statkievič. The other prisoners were transported to Vilnius.
Statkievič was initially arrested shortly before the 2020 presidential election and later sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges widely regarded as politically motivated. In 2022, Belarusian authorities designated him an “extremist.”
UN officials have repeatedly contacted Minsk regarding the alleged ill-treatment of the politician in custody, including incommunicado detention, and “the devastating effect of this ill-treatment on his health due to his advanced age.”
