Reacting to the Belarusian authorities’ refusal to disclose the fate and whereabouts of the recently released opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, Maria Guryeva, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner, said:
“The ongoing lack of information about Mikalai Statkevich’s fate and whereabouts is profoundly worrying. He has not been seen since he was taken to the border with Lithuania where he refused to go into exile, after being released from prison. This has prompted fears the Belarusian authorities have returned him to prison. There is a clear and simple term for this: forced disappearance. Mikalai Statkevich’s whereabouts must be immediately disclosed, his safety guaranteed, and his continued detention brought to an end. He should have never been imprisoned in the first place, nor denied his right to stay in his country.
“Mikalai Statkevich’s forced disappearance following his refusal to leave his homeland is a chilling reminder of how appalling the human rights situation in Belarus is, under Aliaksandr Lukashenka. And let’s make no mistake about the recent prisoner release: the authorities in Belarus cannot be said to be rectifying injustices or showing good will – not when they continue to arbitrarily detain people in retaliation for expressing dissent.
The authorities in Belarus cannot be said to be rectifying injustices or showing good will – not when they continue to arbitrarily detain people in retaliation for expressing dissent
Maria Guryeva, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner
“The Belarusian authorities must stop using people imprisoned on political grounds as bargaining chips on the international stage. They must immediately and unconditionally free all those imprisoned for attempting to exercise their human rights. And they must not force anyone to exile.”
Background
On 15 September, Nasha Niva, an independent Belarusian media in exile, reported that Mikalai Statkevich, a prominent opposition politician and long-time government critic, had been returned to the prison colony in Hlybokaye, the same strict-regime facility where he had been serving a 14-year sentence under false charges of “organizing mass unrest” until four days ago.
Mikalai Statkevich was released on 11 September 2025 as part of a political deal in which 52 prisoners were freed in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on the Belarusian state airline Belavia. Out of these 52, local human rights defenders consider 40, including Statkevich, to have been prosecuted on politically motivated grounds. Belarusian authorities attempted to deport the entire group the next day, transporting them to the Lithuanian border. However, Statkevich refused to leave Belarus, declaring “I will keep fighting!” before forcing his way out of the bus in which he was being transported alongside other former prisoners, in the neutral zone. CCTV footage shows him being detained again by masked men coming from the Belarusian side.
No official confirmation of his whereabouts has been issued by the authorities. According to research by the NGO Belarusian Investigative Centre, and based on reporting by the Human Rights Centre Viasna, between 21 June 2025 – the date of the first U.S.-mediated prisoner release – and 11 September, the Belarusian authorities released 53 individuals imprisoned on political grounds (excluding Mikalai Statkevich), while 103 others were newly deprived of freedom, also on politically motivated grounds. The total number of victims of politically motivated prosecution who remain in Belarusian prisons, according to Viasna, is over 1,160.
