WARSAW: A Belarusian dissident who refused to leave his home country after being released from prison there earlier this week has gone missing, Belarus’s exiled opposition leader said Friday.
Mikola Statkevich, who ran against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in 2010 presidential elections, had been in jail for five years.
The 69-year-old was among 52 political prisoners freed on Thursday in a deal brokered by the United States, but unlike the other prisoners, he chose to remain in Belarus after his release, rights groups reported.
“We are very worried about the fate of Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave Belarus,” opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said at a press conference in Vilnius with some of the other freed prisoners.
She said his whereabouts were now “unknown,” without elaborating.
Tikhanovskaya thanked the United States for brokering the release but noted it did not mean “real freedom” for the prisoners, calling it a “forced deportation.”
Everyone who is released should have “the right to choose, either to stay or to leave. And I spoke about this yesterday with our American partners, and we are pushing on that,” she added.
Some of the prisoners who attended Friday appeared to have had their heads shaven.
Many were detained during a brutal crackdown on opposition in the wake of Lukashenko’s 2020 re-election and prosecuted on what rights groups have denounced as politically motivated charges.
Also freed was a staff member with the EU delegation in Minsk and nine journalists and bloggers, including a reporter for US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“There is no reason why journalists and voices of political dissent should be silenced,” RFE/RL president Stephen Capus said in Vilnius.
“We appreciate your bravery and your dedication, and the struggle continues,” he told the released prisoners.
Rights groups estimate that around 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.
Freed Belarus dissident missing after refusing to leave country
https://arab.news/b2ywy
Freed Belarus dissident missing after refusing to leave country
- The 69-year-old was among 52 political prisoners freed on Thursday in a deal brokered by the US
- “We are very worried about the fate of Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave Belarus,” opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said
Most of Iranian women’s soccer team leave Australia
GOLD COAST: The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia without seven squad members after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials, who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.
As the team’s flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late on Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.
Before the team traveled to the airport, seven women had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to remain permanently in Australia and were ushered to a safe location by Australian police officers.
One has since changed her mind, underscoring the tense and precarious nature of their decisions.
“In Australia, people are able to change their mind,” said Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who had hours earlier posted photos of the seven women granted humanitarian visas to his social media accounts, their identities clearly visible.
After what Burke described as “emotional” meetings between the remaining women who reached the airport and Australian officials, the rest of the team declined offers of asylum and boarded their flight.
It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that had gripped Australia since the Iranian team’s first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem.
