By Hleb Anikevich, LRT.lt.

Mikola Statkevich, one of the most prominent opposition leaders in Belarus and a former presidential candidate, was released along with 51 other political prisoners. However, he refused to cross the border into Lithuania. In an interview with LRT.lt, his wife Marina Adamovich recounts why he chose not to leave the country.

The prisoner release took place on September 11, following a meeting between US presidential envoy John Cole and Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus.

While other freed detainees arrived in Vilnius, Statkevich was seen standing for several hours on the Belarusian side of the border crossing with Lithuania before being escorted back by Minsk officials.

There is still no official confirmation of his whereabouts, although Lukashenko acknowledged on Thursday that Statkevich had refused to leave, so officials “took him away”.

Statkevich had been in prison since May 2020, even before the August 9 presidential election that saw a short-lived uprising against Lukashenko.

Read more: LRT.LT