Mikalai Statkevich: We mustn't forget about demand to rehabilitate political prisoners

Political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich was allowed to meet with his wife.

The visit in the Mahilou prison lasted two hours. Maryna Adamovich talked to her husband through the bars and the doube glass barrier, statkevich.org reports.

“Mikalai Statkevich hasn't changed. He is confident, quiet, strong and very optimistic as usual. They are taken to a visiting room in groups. It is well seen that he is handsome, strong and free man. He is even slightly tanned. He says the sun shines in the yard. It's enough for two inmates if they move. He and his cell mate play in the yard,” she says.

According to Maryna Adamovich, Mikalai Statkevich answers to all letters with the return address.

“If someone wrote to him but didn't receive an answer, don't let it go unpunished. File complaints to the prison or the Corrections Department about creating obstacles for correspondence,” she said.

Another topic raised by Maryna Adamovich and Mikalai Statkevich is a slow but visible work to forget about Europe's demands on the full rehabilitation of victims of politically motivated sentences.

“We see this work not only in Europe but also in Belarus. It hides behind high words and motives. Mikalai called it a 'lucrative betrayal' because it 'sets the foundation for new crimes and makes taking new hostages possible and desirable for the authorities'. He asked to make his stance public,” Maryna Adamovich said.