Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Maryna Adamovich: We didn't hope for amnesty


Political prisoners were left behind the amnesty on purpose, Mikalai Statkevich's wife thinks.

"The amnesty, on which many people laid hopes, is coming to an end. We even heard congratulations on Mikalai's soon return... But it was clear even at the beginning of the amnesty that political prisoners were left behind. I have never hoped for the amnesty," Maryna Adamovich, the wife of political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich, told Belsat TV in an interview.

Most political prisoners received warnings from prison authorities on far-fetched grounds before the amnesty started. Mikalai Statkevich was given the status of "persistent violator of prison rules" and called a person "inclined to escape and disobedience". The law on amnesty contained a special clause, according to which participants and organisers of the "mass disorders" cannot be granted early release.