Imprisoned politician Statkevich thanks Belarusians, foreigners for support 12:02, 01/02/2006
Prominent opposition politician Nikolai Statkevich has expressed gratitude to all people who support him as he is serving a two-year “restricted freedom” term in Baranovichi. In his statement, the oppositionist says he has received hundreds of letters of support from across Belarus, as well as from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic in December and January. More than a thousand Christmas postcards have been mailed to the politician from the Netherlands alone. “All these messages represent a convincing sign that people in democratic Europe remember about Belarus. They express solidarity with those in our country who struggle for freedom and believe that Belarus will be free,” the statement reads.
Mr. Statkevich expresses regret that he cannot reply to all those who have offered him words of support but says he hopes that they will read “these words, the words of gratitude for your solidarity and warmth that is very helpful in the situation that the Belarusian regime put me into.”
“I have never wished I had made a different choice. I believe that Belarus’ freedom has an incomparably higher price than my personal freedom,” Mr. Statkevich stresses.
The politician, who once led the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Narodnaya Hramada,” has accused the authorities of ruining his party but stresses that his allies “will not retreat” because “we understand that no one else but Belarusians themselves can bring freedom to our country.” “Your letters that carry the warmth of your hearts are the best proof of this,” he says.
Mr. Statkevich and another opposition politician, Pavel Severinets, were sentenced to three years of “restricted freedom” last May for staging a series of unauthorized demonstrations in central Minsk against the official results of the 2004 parliamentary elections and national referendum marred by allegations of large-scale fraud.
The sentences were reduced by one year under a general amnesty.
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