On April 22, Mikalai Statkevich, a leader of the Belarusian National Congress and former political prisoner, has been released from the remand prison in Minsk.
The politician had to spend 15 days in jail for calling upon people to come to the Holy Spirit Cathedral on the Freedom Square on April 7 to hold a prayer service in memory of the innocent victims in Kurapaty, a Stalin-era mass executions site near Minsk. However, he failed to show up at the event as the police preventively detained him.
Statkevich organized this initiative because of what happened in Kurapaty recently, where on April 4 the authorities demolished more than 70 crosses and detained activists.
On Monday morning, Statkevich’s wife Maryna Adamovich, his friends and associates were waiting for him in front of the remand prison in Akrestsin street.
Photos: Tatsyana Ulasenka
