English

Statkevich wants Nyaklyayew to provide explanations over events that preceded post-election protest

Imprisoned opposition politician Mikalay Statkevich has urged Uladzimir Nyaklyayew to offer public explanations over a chain of events that preceded the December 19, 2010 post-election street protest in Minsk, BelaPAN said.

Both Messrs. Statkevich and Nyaklyayew were candidates in the December 2010 presidential election and both were arrested on that night.

In a letter from prison that has been posted on his website, Mr. Statkevich wonders why Mr. Nyaklyayew chose his office for their meeting hours before the protest. Mr. Statkevich had told the poet-turned-politician that he did not want to meet him in the office because it was under police surveillance.

Despite his earlier objections, Mr. Statkevich was driven to the office by Mr. Nyaklyayew's driver. Mr. Statkevich says that he could not leave the office alone because he was afraid of being arrested before the protest and agreed to join Mr. Nyaklyayew and his supporters in a procession from the office toward Kastrychnitskaya Square, which was cut short by the intervention of a busload of black-clad athletic men who attacked the crowd. Both Messrs. Statkevich and Nyaklyayew were injured in the attack. While Mr. Nyaklyayew was rushed to the hospital after being beaten unconscious, Mr. Statkevich managed to reach the venue of the protest and was arrested only after its brutal dispersal.

Mr. Statkevich also claims in the letter that days before the post-election protest a fellow opposition presidential candidate asked the police to arrest him.

When reached by BelaPAN, Mr. Nyaklyayew said that he could not discuss the matter with Mr. Statkevich at present because almost none of his letters reached the imprisoned politician.

"I will be able to discuss this with him only when I manage to meet him. Hopefully, it will happen very soon," he said.

According to Mr. Nyaklyayew, he and Mr. Statkevich were originally expected to walk to Kastrychnitskaya Square together, without the company of others, but the plans were changed after a minibus carrying the sound-amplifying equipment of Mr. Nyaklyayew's team was seized by police earlier in the day. As a result, Mr. Nyaklyayew had to urge reporters and opposition activists to gather in front of his office and march toward Kastrychnitskaya Square in a joint procession.