August 6, Pozirk. Veteran opposition politician Mikałaj Statkievič said in an interview with Die Zeit that his stroke in the final months of imprisonment had been caused by the denial of access to vital medications by the administration of his correctional institution in Hłybokaje, Viciebsk region.
After Statkievič’s return to prison in September 2025, the administration allegedly tightened the screws on the 69-year-old inmate and replaced efficient medicines for arrhythmia and post-COVID-19 treatment that had been sent by his wife with Belarusian-made aspirin. Prison doctors told him later this could have provoked the stroke.
Statkievič said that he was released a month later because the regime “didn’t want to bear responsibility” for his death in prison.
Recalling the authorities’ attempt to deport him to Lithuania along with dozens of other prisoners released by Alaksandar Łukašenka under a deal with Washington in September 2025, Statkievič said that he refused to leave the country upon arrival at the Lithuanian border. “I want to decide myself where I live, even if that means prison,” he said.
Statkievič said that he remains unaware of his current legal status. State media reported that he had been pardoned, but he has received no official confirmation of that from the authorities. Statkievič said that he would not leave Belarus despite offers of treatment abroad. “Leaving would mean abandoning millions of Belarusians who still live here,” he explained.
Statkievič said that Belarusian authorities continue large-scale persecution of their political opponents for fear of new protests. He warned that any new protests in the future “may not be as peaceful as in 2020.” “People hate the dictator even more, and he feels it,” Statkievič said. “I think Alaksandar Łukašenka sleeps at night worse than I do.”
Asked about Western policy toward Minsk, Statkievič described it as “rational,” but expressed opposition to isolating Belarusian society. “People must be able to see what exists beyond Belarus and Russia and to visit relatives in the EU,” he said.
Statkievič would not directly answer a question about Western sanctions, citing Belarusian legislation carrying a lengthy prison sentence for calls for sanctions. Instead, he joked that the question should be put to his legally trained wife Maryna Adamovič. “Maryna, how many years do they give now for calling for sanctions?” he asked her.
Mikałaj Statkievič was among the 52 prisoners pardoned by Alaksandar Łukašenka on September 11, 2025. All of those released were taken to Lithuania, except Statkievič, who refused to leave Belarus and remained at a Belarusian-Lithuanian border crossing for several hours, as confirmed by CCTV footage.
In November 2025, the interior ministry informed his family that he had been returned to prison to continue serving his original 14-year sentence.
Statkievič was released in February 2026 after suffering a stroke in prison. He is now recovering at home.
