Former MP arrested in Hrodna

June 21, BPN. Mikałaj Markievič, a member of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus in 1990-1995, was arrested in Hrodna on June 21, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

The reasons and circumstances of the arrest are yet to be clarified.

In the 1990s, Markievič was a founder and editor-in-chief of the Pahonia newspaper. In 2002, he was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly defaming Alaksandr Łukašenka.

Later, he worked in the media and headed the local branch of the now defunct Belarusian Language Society.

Markievič has been working in passenger transportation in the last ten years.