We have unconfirmed information that Statkevich is back in prison – Tsikhanouskaya

VILNIUS - Sviatlana Cichanouskaja, the Belarusian opposition leader living in Lithuania, says she has unconfirmed information that Mykola Statkevich, who was one of the political prisoners released from prison in Belarus last week, is back behind bars.

"We have unconfirmed information that he's back in prison. That's all we know," she told BNS ahead of her meeting with Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Juozas Olekas on Monday.

Statkevich "has appeared at the colony in Glubokoe", Nasha Niva, an independent Belarusian news website, citing sources, reported on Monday.

Prior to his release, he served his sentence at the same colony in northern Belarus.

Statkevich was one of the 52 political prisoners released on September 11 under an agreement brokered by the US, but unlike the other prisoners, he decided to remain in Belarus after his release.

Statkevich, 69, who challenged the authoritarian Alexander Lukashenko in the 2010 presidential election and was arrested before the disputed vote, kicked open the bus door and got off in the neutral zone between Belarus and Lithuania.

Tsikhanouskaya said last week that the release of 50 citizens of Belarus and Western countries, including Lithuania, from Belarusian prisons was forced deportation, not true freedom.

According to Lithuanian authorities, among those released were citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Belarus, including "opposition figures, journalists and protest participants".

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said last week that the release was not in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions against Belarus. However, the US lifted sanctions against Belarusian airline Belavia.