Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 19, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 3, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
Belarus freed opposition figure Mikola Statkevich after he suffered a stroke in custody, his wife said. The 69-year-old had refused deportation during a 2025 U.S.-brokered release. Exiled leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the news.
Feb 19 (Reuters) - Belarusian opposition politician Mikola Statkevich, who refused deportation to Lithuania after his 2025 release and was imprisoned again, has been freed after he suffered a stroke while in custody, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Thursday.
Statkevich was one of 52 prisoners freed in Belarus in September 2025 after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump, including journalists and political opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko. All were brought to the Lithuanian border, but Statkevich was the only one who refused to cross.
"I am relieved that he is free and able to hug his wife, who waited for him for so long," Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X, posting a picture of Statkevich and his wife smiling. She said that he could barely speak following the stroke.
Statkevich, 69, ran unsuccessfully against Lukashenko in a presidential election in 2010. He was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced in 2021 to 14 years in a maximum-security prison for "organising riots".
(Reporting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
Belarus has freed opposition politician Mikola Statkevich after he suffered a stroke in prison. The case draws renewed attention to political repression and prisoner releases tied to international negotiations.
He was arrested in May 2020 and, in 2021, received a 14-year sentence for allegedly organizing riots—charges widely viewed by rights groups as politically motivated.
Statkevich refused deportation to Lithuania during a U.S.-brokered mass release in September 2025 and was rearrested. His release after a stroke highlights ongoing human rights concerns in Belarus.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
