Natallia Pinchuk: I don't believe Lukashenka's words

The words about the release of Ales Bialiatski mean nothing, the political prisoner's wife thinks.

Natallia Pinchuk spoke to charter97.org about Lukashenka's promise to amnesty Ales Bialiatski.

“Firstly, it's not Ales but society who paid the compensation. Secondly, one shouldn't comment on his words, because we already heard these words, when Lukashenka spoke about Bialiatski and asked if he had been released or not. I don't believe his words. We can comment only on particular actions,” the wife of the political prisoner said.

The Belarusian dictators said at the meeting with heads of Belarusian mass media in the Palace of Independence that he would release Ales Bialiatski “if the information about the compensation for the damage is confirmed”. Lukashenka said he would pardon political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich if he applied for clemency even without admitting his guilt.

A court found the head of Viasna human rights centre guilty of concealing income on an especially large scale on November 24, 2011, and sentenced him to 4.5 years in a medium security correctional colony and confiscation of property. Bialiatski faced prosecution for having bank accounts in Lithuania and Poland. The court ignored the fact that the money was spent on human rights activity.

Mikalai Statkevich was a presidential candidate in 2010. He was arrested after a rally against electoral frauds. On May 26, 2011, Minsk's Partyzanski district court sentenced the politician to 6 years in a medium security correctional colony.