No news from jailed politician Statkievič for 90 days

May 11, BPN. Maryna Adamovič, wife of jailed politician Mikałaj Statkievič, has not received any news from her husband for three months.

“90 endless days. . .  1,085 days behind bars,” she wrote on Facebook. “How are they [authorities] doing? Doesn’t their conscience bother them?”

On February 1, the UN Human Rights Committee confirmed that it received Statkievič’s appeal against violations of his rights. About a month later, authorities did not allow the politician’s lawyer to see him citing a missing visit request.

On May 5, the Swiss-German human rights group Libereco presented a report on politically-motivated persecution in Belarus. It cites the March report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights describing some of the human rights violations in the country as possible crimes against humanity.

Since late April, the Warsaw-based Free Belarus Museum has been hosting a photo exhibition dedicated to Statkievič.

Police arrested the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) in Minsk in late May 2020. In December 2021, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for organization of “mass riots.” A year later, the interior ministry added his name to the register of persons involved in extremist activities.

Belarusian human rights groups say his persecution is politically motivated.

Family members of people imprisoned on politically-motivated charges have been noting that authorities keep many prominent political prisoners incommunicado. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said that she has not heard from her husband, jailed blogger Siarhiej Cichanoŭski, since March.