Belarusian president again said Andrei Sannikov's journalist wife "refused to leave the country".
Iryna Khalip, a Novaya Gazeta journalist convicted for participating in a rally against the rigged presidential elections in Minsk on December 19, 2010, opted not to leave Belarus, Lukashenka said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"Khalip refused to leave the country. She understands perfectly that she is a martyr here, in Belarus, but no one needs her abroad," he said.
"If you want to take her anywhere, go to the prosecutor general, take her and go. But she will choose to remain here," Lukashenka noted.
Answering a question if Khalip was still banned from leaving the country, Lukashenka said: "My God, I thought we are talking the same language..."
Iryna Khalip told charter97.org commenting on Lukashenka's remark:
"Frankly speaking, I am surprised that people can still believe his words. In my opinion, everyone had plenty of opportunities to get convinced that he produces only a senseless stream of sounds that journalists try put into words and sentences and analyse them. It makes absolutely no sense. I can only say that my situation only worsened and control tightened after Lukashenka's first remark to Yevgeny Lebedev that I am free and can go to Moscow right now. If there is logic in Lukashenka's words, I will be arrested today."
