Belarus releases opposition politician following stroke in prison, according to exiled leader

Belarusian opposition politician Mikola Statkevich, who declined deportation to Lithuania following his release in 2025 and was subsequently imprisoned again, has been released after suffering a stroke while in custody, according to exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday.

In September 2025, Statkevich was among 52 prisoners released in Belarus following an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump, which included journalists and political adversaries of President Alexander Lukashenko. All were taken to the Lithuanian border, but Statkevich was the only one who declined to cross. “I am relieved that he is free and can embrace his wife, who has waited for him for so long,” Tsikhanouskaya shared on X, posting a photo of Statkevich and his wife smiling. She mentioned that he could hardly speak after the stroke.

At the age of 69, Statkevich contested the presidential election in 2010, facing off against Lukashenko but did not succeed. In May 2020, he was taken into custody and subsequently sentenced in 2021 to 14 years in a maximum-security prison for “organising riots”.